Vanish at my Destiny
by elenaram
Summary: "Are you just going to give up on this? On everything you've ever worked for?" He shouted at her, a mix of anger and hurt in his tone. She stopped running at this point and her breathing had become ragged. She didn't turn around to see his face. She could only imagine the expression on it. His strained voice carried clearly. "I've never known you to be a coward." AdrienxMarinette
1. The Initiation

**Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys! So this is my first time publishing a fanfiction and I'm so nervous and excited I could die :'D There are some things I want to note before you start reading:**

 **Firstly, I am writing this mostly based on the English episodes airing here in America because I don't know the French language or culture, so please forgive me for my lack of knowledge (Google will be my best friend). There are obvious discrepancies between the French and English versions, such as "Chat Noir" and "Cat Noir," Adrien's and Marinette's catch phrases, their ages, and other things like that.**

 **Secondly, there will be some profanity throughout this fanfiction as well as some some mildly suggestive or adult themes, although I haven't written that far in advance.**

 **Otherwise, I think that's all I need to warn you about, so please continue and enjoy! _Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or its characters, only the plot of this work._**

* * *

Chapter 1: The Initiation

It had been three years since Marinette first put on the Ladybug miraculous, and amazingly, she had been able to keep her real identity a secret from everyone, even her overly-enthusiastic, Ladybug-fanatic friend Alya. It had been difficult sometimes, but luck always seemed to be on her side.

Marinette and her friends had finally graduated from Dupont just a few months ago, and now she was considering going to university to continue her studies in fashion. Unfortunately, Alya would not be attending with her, since fashion wasn't her field of study. She was still busy with her Ladybug blog and had started working. Alya and Nino had started dating a little after their escapades in the zoo back in high school, so Marinette would see him every now and then. Their relationship got a bit rocky at times, so Nino would ask Marinette for advice and invite her out on double dates to help smooth things over when he had severely messed something up.

Fortunately, for Marinette, Nino was still best friends with Adrien, who was always the partner of choice when he asked Marinette to do the double dates. It still made Marinette extremely nervous to be around him—it was _Adrien_ , for crying out loud—but the more interactions she had with him, the more she was able to speak to him without shoving both feet in her mouth. Of course, Alya was always there with her winks and nudges for encouragement.

Adrien was still modeling for his father's business, but he was also considering going to school for business, as goaded by his father. Even after all of this time, he still hasn't been able to stand up to his father's control over his life. Truthfully, Adrien didn't know what he wanted to do with his future if it wasn't something his dad wanted.

But, as Cat Noir…his alter ego had yet to be unmasked by Hawk Moth or the general public, and he planned to keep it that way. However, if Ladybug truly wished it, Cat Noir would show her who he really was. To his dismay, she ignored his advances, which, strangely, only encourage him more. It was fittingly like a cat and mouse game…but with a ladybug? As Cat Noir, and as Adrien Agreste, his heart was completely devoted to Ladybug. But there was little hope for that longing to be translated into some sort of future for them.

* * *

Marinette sat at a picnic table in the local park with a new friend, Charlene Legrand*, who she met while touring the university. It felt wonderful to meet someone with as much passion as Marinette for fashion design. Charlene was a fairly quiet girl, who hid behind thick-framed glasses and bangs. At first glance, you wouldn't assume that she is was into modern clothing design since she wore a very bulky and tattered grey sweater. Her hair was a mousy-brown and she stood with her shoulders turned inward, very guarded. Overall, she just didn't stand out. But she had an unexpectedly brilliant eye for color and appeal.

Marinette had invited her out to discuss the university a little more and maybe share their portfolios with their past designs. It would give Marinette a better idea of Charlene's style.

"Oh wow!" Marinette exclaimed, looking at her new friend with a smile. "These are amazing, Charlene! If anyone should become a designer, it should definitely be you."

Charlene shifted uncomfortably at the compliment. "Oh no, I think you're exaggerating…"

"No, I'm not. You're great at balancing colors. And the way you layer the pieces without making the looks too busy is amazing too," Marinette chirped.

"You really think so?" Charlene blushed a bit and gestured to Marinette's sketchbook. "Your looks are very bold. You'll probably be a trend-setter someday."

Marinette put a finger to her lip in thought. She had never considered that before.

In the distance, there was a group of girls strolling through the park. Centered in the pack was none other than Chloé Bourgeois and her right-hand enabler, Sabrina. Chloé was yammering on about frequenting the nearby malls and the feeble attempts other shoppers made at looking as good as her. A few giggles later, Chloé happened to see the two girls sitting at the picnic table. She immediately recognized Marinette and her eye twitched on impulse. It had been months now since she had seen her former classmate, but her dislike of the girl was as strong as ever. Of everyone at Dupont, Marinette was the only one who out rightly spoke against her. She was a threat to her authority and she detested that notion.

Chloé changed her direction, heading directly toward Marinette and Charlene, the herd of Barbies following close behind. Marinette's back had been facing them and was only tipped off to the impending confrontation when Charlene's attention slid behind her. Marinette swiveled on her picnic bench, her nose instantly wrinkling at the sight of Chloé.

She sighed heavily and turned back briefly to whisper to Charlene. "We've got some trouble. Let me handle it."

"Well, Marinette, it sure has been a while," Chloé started, noticing the portfolios on the table. "Still trying to get your lame designs noticed? Those odds are pretty small."

"It may take some time, but I'm a patient person."

Chloé raised a brow. She had been hoping for a different reaction. She tried again. "No one would even look at your designs. They're outrageous. I mean, who designs pieces after fowl?"

Marinette rolled her eyes, replying, "At least I can say my _lame_ designs are all original. You and your style look like they were already done twenty years ago. You probably stole those too."

Chloé's jaw slackened. The nerve of that Marinette, still defying her. Sometimes she struggled going toe to toe with her. Her eyes shot to Charlene, who immediately turned her shoulders inward. Chloé smirked. "Who's Meekly over there? Don't tell me you're swapping design ideas with that plain Jane." Charlene quickly averted her eyes as the rest of the herd cackled like the hyenas they were. "I mean, you look like a drowned rat that just crawled out of the sewer." More giggles were elicited from the group.

Distressed, Marinette took in the sight of her new friend curled in on herself. It angered Marinette seeing her like that, knowing that it was partially her fault for provoking Chloé. In the next moment, she snapped her head directly to Chloé, the blue of her eyes becoming icy. "Is that the best you can do? Unable to defend yourself because you have nothing comparable to us?" Marinette stood from her seat, approaching the blonde and forcing her to step back. "All you have is your dad's name to get you places. We're going to be adults soon, Chloé, and you have nothing to rely on but that. _That's_ lame."

The Bourgeois girl took another step back, blinking and utterly stunned. She had never been talked to like that. The Barbies behind her, even Sabrina, were quiet. They really didn't know what to say to the remark. But after a few seconds, they were muttering amongst themselves, things like how it was kind of true. They also had money, but they at least were working or going to college. Chloé turned back to them, trying to reassure them of her worth. They looked at her doubtfully, and soon decided to part ways with Chloé and Sabrina.

"But wait! I still have plenty to offer you! We can go shopping, and I can introduce you to so many people!" She started to chase after them, but paused to turn to Marinette and growl. She spun around and left in the direction of the other girls, Sabrina tailing her.

Marinette huffed, going back to the picnic table and plopping down. "Had she really not noticed that until now?" She was looking back at Charlene's portfolio when she heard sniffling. She looked up to find Charlene crying. Her heart nearly broke at the sight. "Oh, Charlene. I'm so sorry. Are you okay? Chloé can be such a priss. You should really ignore her."

That was easier said than done.

Charlene sniffed again and wiped tears from her eyes before bringing them to meet Marinette's. "I'm…okay. I've been teased like that quite a bit. At this point in my life I should really get a backbone…"

"That…may be true," Marinette admitted, "but people like Chloé need to be shut down right away or they're just going to walk all over you." She crossed her arms matter-of-factly. "You're going to be far more successful in your life anyhow, so you should focus on you." An encouraging smile adorned her lips.

"I guess you're right." She offered back a small grin before returning her attention to the portfolio in front of her. A thought crossed her mind. "You're a bit dramatic in your declarations, Marinette."

Marinette scratched the back of her head and laughed sheepishly.

* * *

Chloé had chased down the girls that left her earlier, but they finally got annoyed with her trying to bribe them into hanging out with her. It was really rather pathetic. Then there was Sabrina who was following after her like a lost puppy, which only added to the laughable situation. Chloé, who didn't have the gumption to continue pursuing them eventually gave up. She groaned in irritation, whipping her head around and berating an innocent Sabrina.

"It's all that Marinette's fault!" Chloé shrieked. They had entered a store where Chloé had decided to let her frustration out on her daddy's credit card. She stared down at the plastic with some malice. It stared back at her as if it were trying to prove Marinette's point. Her grip on it tightened as she growled some more. "Sabrina! Go home! I want to be alone."

"Oh, ah, yes, Chloé. You sure you can handle the bags alone?" The other girl asked tentatively.

The blonde glowered at her. "Of course I can, stupid. Now get out of my sight." Without so much as another word, Sabrina left quickly.

Chloé stormed off in the opposite direction, Marinette's words swimming around in her head and annoying her to no end. She huffed and reached into one of her shopping bags, muttering, "Nothing comparable…what does she know? She can't even afford the high-end stuff like I can." She found what she had been fishing for in her bag, pulling out her arm and with it a necklace. It was gold and had a small diamond charm dangling from it. She reached around her neck and fastened the clasp, adjusting the necklace and fiddling with it in her hand. She nodded her head in approval. Marinette couldn't compare her taste in style to hers. Marinette was so insignificant, but she had a real knack for disrespecting Chloé, especially when other people were present. Her popularity with her class at Dupont had plummeted as the years went on and Marinette grew rather popular. Even Adrien would praise her. Adrien was _her_ childhood friend, not Marientte's. He was supposed to be dating her by now, and getting engaged by next year if she had had it her way. But that Dupain-Cheng had been turning everyone against her.

Chloé continued to stomp down the street when a voice rang clear in her ears.

 _"Isn't it frustrating? Knowing that girl keeps taking away all of your friends and making a mockery of you like that?"_ Chloé's blood began to boil. That mere dislike of Marinette turned into pure hatred, only fueled more by the eerie words. _"I know you want your revenge against her, and I can help you in that endeavor. I only require a small favor in return."_

* * *

Adrien hadn't seen Nino for a while, what with all of his photo shoots and college visits. But he thought he had it narrowed down to two or three that his father would approve of. He inwardly groaned. No matter how much time had passed, he was still putting his father's opinions and wants before his own. Frankly, it was pathetic. When was he finally going to grow out of it?

That was why he invited Nino out for the day. He was hoping he could give him a few ideas, things like how to confront his father and finding a place to live on his own. The latter shouldn't be too hard if he can find enough work, but he relied quite a bit on Gabriel Agreste's connections. If Adrien angered him while confronting him about his career and college plans, he might soon find it difficult to find those jobs.

"Maybe you can live on campus in the dorms," Nino suggested. "You can be around more people your age and make some friends."

Adrien nodded, liking the idea. But he knew his father would send those in his employ to fetch him, and that would make it awkward being on campus. He just wanted to be normal, not to stick out like a sore thumb. "Having father's employees always coming to campus would be inconvenient. Do you know anything about local housing? Maybe some apartments?"

Nino thought a moment as they walked. They entered a nearby park and headed towards one of the open benches. "I don't know of any offhand, but we can always research it. Do you think your pop will be down with that?"

"Eh, probably not, but that's why I was hoping you could help me come up with something clever to convince him it's a good idea." They made it to the bench and relaxed on it, surveying the area. It was a rare, peacefully quiet day.

"Ah, and all the while try not to piss him off," Nino said, rubbing his chin in thought.

Adrien chuckled. "Preferably not. I still need to work."

While brainstorming, something had caught Nino's attention. "Oh, hey, look. It's Marinette," he pointed out. She was sitting at a picnic table with a brunette girl in a gray sweater. "I wonder who that is with her."

Adrien craned his head over to where his friend had been looking. Sure enough, there was Marinette talking animatedly with another girl. They had some sort of books with them, so he could only speculate it had something to do with fashion. Marinette was always really passionate about her work in design. Adrien smiled to himself, about to say something to Nino when a flash of light shot at the table Marinette sat at, creating shockwaves all around.

"Whoa!" Nino exclaimed as rumbling noises echoed throughout the park. "What was that?"

A bit shocked, Adrien's eyes traced back to the source of the flash. On the other side of the park, a figure stood, clad in a black, white, and yellow jumpsuit. The figure was female, with blonde hair, a black mask covering half her face, and tons of jewelry, including bracelets, rings, a necklace, and a crown. Oh yeah, she definitely had "akuma" written all over her.

Drawing his attention back to Marinette, he sprinted for her. "Marinette!" he called. Nino tailed him, keeping a worried eye on the villain.

Marinette and her friend laid unceremoniously sprawled on the ground. She groaned and sat up slightly, cradling her head. It was throbbing. She must have hit it really hard on some rocks or something. She was still a bit dazed when she heard someone calling her name. "Ugh, who…?"

A hand rested on her back, attempting to help her sit up. "Are you alright?" the voice asked. It was familiar, very warm and smooth like honey. Her eyes widened in realization and raised up to meet a pair of green ones.

"A-Adrien?" she sputtered. "W-what are you doing here?"

He shook his head and turned his gaze in front of him. "I can explain later. Right now, we need to move away from here."

Marinette looked around her for the first time. People in the park had run screaming away from the scene, an unconscious Charlene was also on the ground being propped up by Nino, and across the way stood a girl in a spandex jumpsuit, who had stayed suspiciously quiet until now.

"You," she glared directly at Marinette, spitting out her name.

The boys looked at Marinette, who merely blinked in confusion. "Uh…I don't understand why…" she murmured more to herself than anyone else. She attempted to stand up, but struggled and needed Adrien's help.

"You!" the akumatized girl spat again, pointing her finger at Marinette. "You keep taking everything from me! Why do you act like you're entitled to everything?" Marinette shook her head and started to retort. "Don't try to make excuses! You think you've got everyone wrapped around your little finger, you bitch. I bet you even think that _my_ Adrikins has a thing for you!"

Marinette, Adrien, and Nino recoiled in shock again.

"Chloé?!" they all said in unison. She was the only one that used that pet name. Adrien started to feel a bit sick, as he always did wherever Chloé was concerned. They may have been childhood friends, but her pushiness had only become more and more of a turn off as the years went by.

"Wrong!" the girl exclaimed. "These days I'm going by Queen Bee*, as I have always belonged at the top of the totem pole. And you, _Marinette_ ," she said, looking right at her, "belong under my foot." Another flash of light bolted at the group. They barely had a chance to dodge it before it struck the ground where they just were. The grass and dirt blackened with traces of smoke rising from it. Queen Bee said aloud, "I will make everyone hate you!"

Adrien risked taking his eyes off Queen Bee to look at Marinette. "What exactly did you do to her?" He highly doubted it was actually her fault. She never really liked getting involved with typical girl drama. But Chloé was always an instigator.

Marinette looked almost hurt as she moved out of the way to avoid another flash of light. "M-me? It was Chloé that had started bullying Charlene!" she shouted over to Adrien, only confusing him without the rest of the story.

"Uh, guys," Nino interrupted. "We've got a problem here." He had been holding onto Charlene, who still hadn't moved since the first flash of light. He held out a hand from behind her head to show fresh blood on it.

 _Shit,_ Adrien thought. _They had hit a rough patch in the dirt earlier. She must have nicked her head on a sharp rock._

He looked back at Marinette to see her jumping out of Queen Bee's path a few more times. She was unexpectedly fast. He needed to transform into Cat Noir to help her, but he couldn't just leave so obviously in front of everyone there. Just then, Marinette took off away from the park, leaving them behind. "Hey!" He grit his teeth and chased after her and Queen Bee. "Where are you going?"

Marinette shouted over her shoulder. "I'll lead her away! Please get Charlene some help!" She kept running without as much as a glance back.

Adrien skidded to a halt. He was torn between following after her and turning around to help Nino. He looked back at the boy and girl, reluctantly going back to their side. He asked Nino, "Have you looked more closely at the wound?"

Nino shook his head and propped Charlene up. She was beginning to stir, so that was a good sign. They moved her hair away from her scalp to get a better look. There was quite a bit of blood, so it was hard to tell just how serious it was.

"Call an ambulance," Adrien told Nino and stood up.

"Dude! Where are you going?" Nino demanded. "You can't just leave us here."

"Marinette is all by herself with that akuma after her," Adrien said. "I can't just leave her alone, and there's nothing more I can do here anyways."

"But what are you going to do?"

Adrien looked in the direction Marinette ran off. "I'll figure it out. Just call that ambulance." With that, he ran off down the street.

Once Adrien was out of their line of sight, he transformed into Cat Noir and took to the rooftops. He spent ten minutes scoping the city for any signs of Marinette or Queen Bee. Along the way, he could hear voices from down below. They bellowed Marinette's name, along with strings of curses and promises to avenge their queen. From that, he could only assume that Queen Bee had some sort of ability to brainwash people into hating Marinette.

Some flashes of light in the distance told Cat where Queen Bee was. On all fours, he flew across the rooftops catching glimpses of red with those sparks of light. Ladybug soon came into view, taking her shots at Queen Bee with her yo-yo, knocking her hand away and causing the sparks of light to be misdirected. With another hit from the yo-yo, Queen Bee got knocked back. She shrieked in frustration and ran in the opposite direction. Ladybug started to tail her.

Cat landed on the street near her. "Oh my. My Lady should never look this worn unless I'm the reason for it."

Ladybug sighed, rolling her eyes as she spun on her heel to face him. "What a dirty kitty. What took you so long?"

"I had some citizens to take care of first," he easily answered. He looked around. "Where's the girl named Marinette? There are some angry people chanting her name about to get out their torches and pitchforks."

"A riot, huh? Queen Bee has been enslaving them to attack her, so I had her hide in a building where no one could get to her."

Cat nodded in acceptance. "So, have you figured out where the akuma is?"

Ladybug shook her head. "I'm sure it's a piece of jewelry, but she has so much on, it's ridiculous. It could be any one of those things…"

Cat put his hands on his hips as he thought. She was right. They could try each piece of jewelry at a time, but that could take forever, let alone be difficult just to get them off Queen Bee. "How about that crown she's wearing?" he supplied.

"I don't think so," Ladybug said, shaking her head again. "Items that contain the akuma have almost always been ordinary objects. I don't know about you, but I don't walk around every day wearing a crown."

Cat shrugged. "Only when I'm feeling sassy. But then that leaves us…" He counted on his fingers. "Two bracelets, three rings, and one necklace."

"Right. Well, then maybe we can try ruling out some of our options."

Thundering booms came rolling through the city just then, shaking the ground under them. Multiple flashes lit up buildings about two miles away.

"Maybe we can discuss that on the way," Cat suggested, starting toward the nearest building and scaling the side up to the roof. Ladybug followed suit, using her yo-yo to swing up to him. The chants from the citizens on the streets were growing larger in number and signs of violence began to pop up. Cars had been overturned, windows and doors had been shattered and broken down…and the people were still calling for Marinette with venom on their lips and ill intent in their eyes. Cat's brows remained furrowed, and he prayed that his former classmate had remained safe in the midst of this rampaging.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **So? Did you like it? Like I said, I'm so nervous! I haven't written in so long! And I am terrible at writing antagonizing dialogues, so please forgive me for that bit of garbage lol**

 **Just to let you know, I am a college student and I work two part time jobs, so I am quite busy. It literally took me six hours scattered throughout this past week just to write this first chapter. I won't be guaranteeing any weekly updates or anything like that. I will keep a status on my profile to let you know if I am on a hiatus for exams or work or anything. Reviews/likes/faves are definitely encouragement for me to sit down and crank out this stuff, so please let me know what you think!**

 **'Til next chapter!**

 **-Ram 2/3/2016**

* * *

 **UPDATE:**

 **I have made some edits to this chapter since I first published it. For those of you that want a quick synopsis, all that changed was that Adrien didn't help Nino take Charlene to the hospital. Instead, he leaves to pursue Marinette and Nino and Charlene end up waiting in the park for an ambulance.**

 ***Charlene Legrand- This character has a sketch on DeviantArt! My username on DeviantArt is tayram. I have a whole folder (entitled "Vanish") dedicated to this fanfiction for you to look at character sketches.**

 ***Queen Bee- This character also has a sketch on DeviantArt!**

 **-Ram 7/7/2016**


	2. Running for Secrets

**A/N:**

 **Long time no see! So, I don't know how many of you have seen the "Antibug" episode, but I am choosing to ignore its existence. The reason for this is because I don't know if a person can be akumatized by more than one akuma, even if they are different. So, I am pretending that it didn't happen to keep it simple.**

 **One reviewer said that my paragraphs were too long, and I vehemently denied this (cuz it looked fine on my desktop) until I opened it up on my phone. Then I saw what you meant...lol so thank you for telling me!**

 **I'm trying to write these chapters long and like an episode, so it has a lot of actions written in them. Please bear with me as I try to get my grip on this kind of writing! Otherwise, please enjoy this next installment! _Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or its characters, only the plot of this work._**

* * *

Chapter 2: Running for Secrets

"So, I'm still thinking that taking that crown isn't a bad idea," Cat said.

Ladybug sighed as they continued toward Queen Bee. "What are you talking about? We went through this. It's completely ridiculous."

"Right, but then again, we've dealt with Chloé before. It's not completely out of character for her."

"We have?" Ladybug asked, a bit confused. "I'm surprised you know her by name."

Cat tripped.

"Y-yeah we have!" he sputtered, trying to regain himself. "If I remember correctly, it was a long time ago. We saved her and the mayor a few times."

Ladybug thought back for a moment. "Oh right," she said, "like when we fought Rogercop. It was so long ago. But how could I forget?" She smiled at the memory and continued to push forward.

Cat laughed nervously.

That was a close one. As Cat Noir, he had only met Chloé a handful of times, which, really, that was enough for anyone to get the idea of her character. But, as Adrien, he knew Chloé far better than anyone, which was a scary thought. He was thankful that Ladybug was so focused that she hadn't noticed his blunder.

"If you want to try her crown, be my guest," Ladybug stated with a smile, "but I'll bet that you're wrong."

Cat kept pace beside her. "And what is it that you're betting?" He waggled his eyebrows.

Ladybug shook her head, threw out her yo-yo, and swung to the next building with Cat following behind her.

Queen Bee was now within their sight. As she walked the street, she pointed her finger to those unfortunate enough to be close by. The light flashed and struck their backs as they attempted to flee. They stumbled, stunned by the light, but in one second, they turned around to face Bee, awaiting her command.

She was approaching the park again, as she had already searched a large portion of the city looking for Marinette without any luck. However, Nino and Charlene were still on the ground. The ambulance had just arrived but they were fumbling around with Queen Bee so close by.

She smiled wickedly.

The akumatized girl stood there for a moment with her hands on her hips and looked around. "Oh, Marinette!" she sang the girl's name. "You know I don't like playing these games. So why don't you come on out before I really get impatient?"

She snapped her fingers and the hypnotized people, merely drones now, started walking towards Nino and Charlene.

Ladybug gasped. "We have to do something! Now!"

Cat Noir and Ladybug dropped down from the rooftops, their weapons spinning in their hands as they took a battle stances.

Queen Bee's head whipped around, high on alert at the new arrivals. Some of the drones also changed their positions, ready to fight those who stood against her. The rest continued to converge onto Nino and Charlene.

"You again," Queen Bee rudely addressed them.

"Marching around Paris with all of these people isn't going to make it easier for you to find Marinette," Ladybug started, "or make you feel better about yourself."

Bee's eye twitched. "Are you really trying to taunt me? Acting as if you're so high and mighty just because you think you're Paris's defender? You sound just like Marinette!"

" _Yes,"_ the deep voiced cooed in her head. _"Let your hatred for Marinette guide you. If you can defeat Ladybug, then she would have to acknowledge your superiority. You only need to take Ladybug's miraculous."_

"She will come to understand my authority," Bee thought more to herself. Out loud she said, "You know, Ladybug, you're really nothing without those superpowers of yours. Nobody here really thinks you're even all that great." Ladybug's brows furrowed as Bee continued. "They just want someone to protect them. It's selfish, really. But if you hand over your miraculous, I can relieve you of that terrible burden."

For a moment, Ladybug seriously considered Queen Bee's words. They had some truth behind them. She was sure that there were many Parisians that didn't really care about her own well-being or of her other responsibilities, her goals, her dreams…they probably only saw her just as a heroine and not an actual person.

A nudge to her shoulder brought her back to reality. She looked to Cat Noir who had noticed her self-questioning. He offered an encouraging smile, to which she returned and looked back to Queen Bee with resolution.

"That's a burden I'm more than willing to carry, especially when I have this ally cat on my team," she stated, standing her ground firmly.

"Tch, then I guess I'll have to convince him to join mine!" Bee yelled. In her hand flashed that light again, which she threw directly at Cat Noir. He dodged just before it hit the ground he had been standing on.

Suddenly, as if called to action, the enslaved people around them swarmed, effectively starting the battle. Cat Noir and Ladybug were split apart, Cat taking on Bee directly and Ladybug fighting off the drones that were trying to attack her friends. Ladybug used her yo-yo on almost every person that came at her.

Cat had his hands equally full. He didn't want to use his Cataclysm until they found that item, and it was just as well because he was having a hard time getting close to Queen Bee without getting zapped by her flashes of light.

Queen Bee tried to hit him with another sting. He immediately jumped into the air above her and extended his staff toward her head, knocking the crown off. "Ha-ha!" he laughed, landing behind her and grabbing the crown off the ground.

The crown was small and delicate, more like a tiara. Cat easily bent it until it broke in his hands.

But no akuma appeared.

"Well that's un- _fur_ -tunate," he muttered.

"Told you!" came Ladybug's voice as she ran their way. "Time to switch!"

"Got it!" Cat ran past her in the opposite direction and began bashing his way through the worker bees.

Ladybug rushed Queen Bee with her yo-yo twirling. She kept swinging it at her opponent in hopes of getting a good enough hit to knock her off her feet. Of course, Bee's reflexes were good enough to move out of the way before she could land a hit. Then Bee retaliated with her stings, which Ladybug avoided.

And so they kept dancing around like that until finally Ladybug's yo-yo managed to strike Queen Bee's ankle. She stumbled down and hissed under her breath. Noticing their queen's distress, two enslaved people came to her aid, blocking the path between Ladybug and Bee.

Bee started to limp away towards a building while Ladybug took out the two drones.

"LB!" Cat called, still fighting the rest of the swarm. It was starting to get hectic. More and more enslaved persons were showing up and from all directions. One made a grab at Charlene before Cat knocked him away with his staff. "I could use a little help!"

She needed to go after Queen Bee, but with her ankle injured, she probably wasn't to get very far. "Alright then! Lucky Charm!" She threw her yo-yo into the air, and with a flash of light, an object fell down into her hands.

"A jar of honey?" Ladybug looked around, taking note of the nearby ambulance. Her earrings beeped, commencing the five minute countdown.

Cat swatted away another drone. "This is not the time for a snack break!"

"Cat Noir! They're acting just like bees! Bring those two to the ambulance! And use this to distract them!" She threw the jar overhead to her partner. He lithely caught it and in the next move scooped up Charlene and ran for the ambulance with Nino following close behind. From their new position by the ambulance, it limited the drones' ability to gang up on the group.

"Throw the jar in the center!" Ladybug gestured to the swarm that was closing in on them.

"Here goes!" Cat flung the jar straight at the drones. It crashed onto the ground, spilling its contents everywhere. Without hesitation, the worker bees piled onto what little honey there was. While they were distracted, Cat Noir directed his friends and the EMTs into the vehicle so that they could finally get Charlene to the hospital.

A second beep sounded from Ladybug's earrings. "I'm going after Queen Bee! Catch up with me when you're done here!"

She made her way to the building, which turned out to be the storefront of a clothing store. She ran in and immediately noticed the door leading to the back stairwell was left open, probably from Queen Bee frantically trying to escape. She ran up one flight and noticed a door left ajar. It was most likely as far as Queen Bee was able to get with her hurt ankle.

Ladybug walked into a storage room and looked around at all of the boxes and supplies and inventory that were stacked all around her. Nothing in the room moved and it was eerily quiet.

A sharp pain exploded in Ladybug's legs, causing her to fall. "Ah!" she yelped out in pain as she hit the floor.

Her eyes wanted to stay shut to try to ignore the stinging in her extremities, but she forced herself to crack an eye open to look at them. They looked fine. They weren't bleeding or seemingly broken. She realized the problem once she tried to move them.

Ladybug hissed in agony. Her legs had become immobilized—paralyzed, but still painful.

She heard a chuckle from the other side of the room and looked up. The door had been closed and Queen Bee's hands were both extended in front of her. So Bee had been hiding behind the door and then stung her with her light while her back was turned.

Ladybug sat there paralyzed from the waist down. She was almost out of time.

That same wicked smile adorned Queen Bee's lips as she slowly stepped closer to Ladybug. She chuckled lowly, "Oh-ho-ho, how great this is. The mighty Ladybug can't even hold her own against the Bee."

Lady tried to use her yo-yo, but when she was about to throw it, Queen Bee stung her right arm with her light, rendering it useless. She cried in agony again as her limb fell to her side.

Ladybug rolled herself over onto her stomach and began to drag herself away from Queen Bee with only her left arm.

"Oh, but wait, Ladybug. Don't you want to stay and chat?"

She flopped against the floor, her face twisted in pain.

"We have so much to do, so much to discuss." Queen Bee closed the distance between them, eyeing Ladybug carefully. Her earrings made the "beep" sound again, giving her a three minute warning before she would transform back into Marinette.

With her left hand, Ladybug made one last effort to get away from Queen Bee, struggling to pull the rest of her body with her. She could see her own shadow cast from a light behind her, meaning Bee was going to use her sting again. Ladybug clenched her eyes shut, waiting for it.

The door burst open behind them. "Ah!" cried Queen Bee as Cat Noir kicked his foot into her side, sending her flying away.

"Sorry I'm late," Cat said with his staff at the ready. "Had some straggler bees to take care of."

"Cat!" Ladybug called.

He turned and gasped at her form, starting towards her when a flash of light caused him to jump back. They looked at Queen Bee who had gotten back onto her feet. "Hey, cat, I thought we played enough for today?"

"I was just getting warmed up!" Cat replied, lunging at Bee with his claws extended. He threw some blows at her, which she skillfully deflected and returned, but were also blocked by Cat.

The akuma had given her some uncanny fighting abilities, for sure, but Cat had some experience under his belt now. When Bee moved to block another one of Cat's blows, he switched up his rhythm and side-swiped her, sending her back once again.

Quickly looking around, he noticed they were in a storage area of the clothing store. He found the closest article of clothing, a long, skinny scarf, and tied her hands and feet together like she was being prepared for a rotisserie. She might have been a better fighter now, but Bee wasn't much stronger than before and couldn't break the high-quality cloth herself. She struggled against her bindings.

Ladybug's earrings beeped again. "Cat!" She called with desperation. "Only two minutes!"

Cat ran up to her. "You can't move?"

"Her light is some sort of paralyzing sting," she explained. "I can't move my legs or arm."

Cat nodded. "Well, then, excuse me—" he snaked his arms under her and hoisted her up, causing her to grunt in pain. "I guess I have no other choice but to get you out of here myself."

From outside the room, the yelling of citizens were coming to aid Queen Bee. Cat Noir carried Ladybug out of the room with a brief pause at the door to see the people storming up the stairs. "Ah, there's the swarm!"

"Cat, there's no time…" Ladybug warned.

He finally recognized the urgency of the situation and bounded up the flights of stairs to the roof. The swarm was close behind them all the way to the top. They had finally made their way outside, but there was no place to hide on the rooftop where the angry mob wouldn't find her once she transformed back.

Glancing out over the building, he could see people on the ground, which would make their escape more difficult to accomplish.

Cat decided on the next option. Holding Ladybug tightly, he sprinted to the edge of the building and sprang to the next roof with their pursuers close on his heels. Surprisingly, a few more athletic ones had managed to follow them. Cat's breathing hitched as he picked up his pace, heading for the next building.

Another beep sounded from her earrings, causing Cat to panic. Only one minute was left and there were still a few men tailing them.

Cat crossed a few more buildings and Ladybug's weight was beginning to slow him down. When he looked back, he saw that the men had gained on them.

"Your staff!" Ladybug prompted him.

He gave her a confused look before glancing ahead of them with realization. "Hold on tight," he ordered as they approached the next ledge. Ladybug squeezed her good arm around him as he took out his staff and extended it to a normal length.

Just as he should have leapt to the next building, he planted the staff in front of them and made it elongate, propelling them into the air. It shot them forward across multiple buildings, and Cat did it twice more for good measure. They were so far away from the mob, there was no way it would catch up from the rooftops.

Still, they were visible.

Cat kept sprinting, afraid he wasn't going to get his lady to safety. His mind hadn't registered her protests as time ran out. At the last second, Cat dropped down from the rooftops to a smaller building.

There was a flash of light that blinded him, forcing his eyes shut.

When next he opened them, Marinette was in his arms.

* * *

Oh shit. _Oh shit oh shit oh shit._

No other thought was coming to mind as she locked eyes with Cat Noir—as Marinette. And from the looks of it, he was as equally surprised by this turn of events as she was. His eyes were nearly bugged out with his mouth hung agape.

They sat there for a moment, frozen in a stupor because neither one of them knew how to proceed. This had never happened before. Marinette had always intended for it not to. She hadn't yet prepared for this kind of situation. But now what was going to happen?

She blinked her eyes in an attempt to free herself from the trance. "Cat…" she murmured.

Cat snapped back to normal. "Ah, Princess, who would have thought it was you of all people?" His normal smile was still absent, but he gently set her down.

She hissed in pain. She was hoping that if she detransformed the paralysis might wear off, but that wasn't her luck today.

Marinette's kwami floated around her. "Marinette! Are you okay?"

"Tikki," she said, holding her good hand out for her to sit on. "I'm fine, I just need to rest for a bit." That was a lie. She was not fine. How could she be fine? How could anything be fine? Her identity was just revealed for the very first time!

 _Breathe, Marinette. At least it was only Cat._ At this point, her biggest concern was Queen Bee's goons finding them and seeing her. _Although they wouldn't know I'm Ladybug._ They _didn't watch me detransform,_ she groaned internally.

Marinette shook her head. Her main priority should be catching that akuma right now.

She looked up to Cat Noir. His eyes were wandering her face as though he was still trying to believe what he saw. She looked down and flushed. "Cat, could you look away? We need to figure out what to do now. I can't think with you staring at me."

"Oh, sorry," he apologized and spun on his heel. "But you're right. What do we do about Queen Bee? Her swarm will be here soon."

Marinette pursed her lips in thought. They had already tried her crown, and that didn't work. "There are still three rings, her bracelets, and the necklace left," Marinette stated.

"Can we narrow down our possibilities somehow?"

Marinette thought some more, but she was finding it hard to concentrate from their lack of time. "All of the pieces of jewelry are pretty distinctive on their own. I'm not sure how I can."

Tikki piped in. "Marinette, we've known Chloé for years. Didn't you say that the akumatized object had to be something the person might ordinarily have?"

This was true. Chloé had a style that was expensive in taste and she hated tacky things. So her jewelry was very luxurious in price but worn simply to avoid looking too gaudy. The only thing she could remember Chloé ever wearing were necklaces.

"Chloé would normally never wear that many rings or bracelets," Marinette started, "so I'll bet it's that necklace of hers. But it wouldn't hurt to snag the other stuff from her too." Some of the strength was starting to come back to her feet, so she attempted to stand only to promptly fumble back down with weak knees.

Cat turned around and knelt beside her. "Are you still in pain?"

"Just some slight throbbing. I'm sure those guys are catching up now, so I'll still need your help moving around until I can transform again."

"Got it." Cat offered a hand, which she took with her good one, and hoisted her up into his arms again.

They jumped down into the street and ran into the next nearest building before any enslaved persons could see them. Cat sat Marinette down on a chair and drew the curtains so that they were only open an inch to let some daylight in. It was a bakery—not the one owned by her own family—that had been emptied due to the commotion from Queen Bee.

Marinette motioned for Cat to go to the counter where some cookies were. He strolled back and handed one to her. Tikki appeared from her purse and sat in Marinette's hand, nibbling at the cookie.

"So what's the game plan?" Cat asked Marinette.

She sat there pensively, biting her lip in thought. "She's got her little minions swarming around so it's hard to get close to her. And even when we do get close, she's got that stinging light of hers. Once I transform again, maybe you can try separating her from them and I—"

"No," Cat interrupted, very uncharacteristically. "That's what got you where you are now. If we go, then we go together."

Marinette was taken aback by his tone. He was unusually assertive. "Well, then, you and I need to separate her from her little worker bees. They've probably untied her already and are looking for me."

In an instant, Cat's eyes lit up and a smile flashed across his lips. "I think I have an idea."

* * *

Marinette stood in the middle of the park where this whole thing started. It was a terrible idea really, but what else could she do at this point but try it?

Queen Bee was on the other side of the city now, still looking for her as Marinette, and in between the two of them strewn about the streets were her little worker bees. The concept was to lure them towards her and away from Queen Bee herself, but there were so many people in Paris, Marinette was skeptical. How was Cat going to round them all up? Eventually, Bee would hear about the commotion and make her way back towards the park.

And that was the idea. Cat wanted to lure Queen Bee back their way. After that last fiasco, she would surely be avoiding Cat Noir and Ladybug and would run away at the sight of them. They needed to get Bee to stay put, and what better way to do that than to use herself as bait?

Marinette nervously swayed back and forth on her feet, tapping her fingers against the sides of her legs in anticipation. Across the way, she could see one of the worker bees, a man, looking around but who hadn't seen her yet.

Cat stayed up in the trees to avoid being spotted prematurely.

Marinette felt absolutely defenseless, and her nerves only intensified as the man came closer. He finally made eye contact with her and let out an unintelligible shriek to alert others nearby, just like they were hoping. Then he charged toward her.

Marinette recoiled at the man and ran in the opposite direction, covered by trees and foliage. Cat took the opportunity to jump down and land on the man just as he was about to join Marinette in the brush. New worker bees appeared in the park now, making more of those noises and coming to attack Cat.

He easily fought them off one by one, knocking them unconscious along the way.

"Alright," whispered Marinette from behind the bushes. Tikki floated from out of her pink purse. "Hopefully Queen Bee was tipped off and is coming this way. But I think I should help Cat Noir now. Tikki, spots on!" The glittering light from her transformation was shielded from view by the bushes. She jumped out as Ladybug and began bashing away at the worker bees until Queen Bee finally made her appearance with a few Parisians at her side.

Queen Bee looked at the scene and then clenched her fists in agitation. "I was told Marinette was here," she spat. "I need to take her as collateral for their miraculouses! You've wasted my time, you imbeciles!" Just before she could storm off, one of her lackeys, tugged on her arm and pointed to the trees and bushes in the park.

Bee smiled to what the lackey was implying.

"You can't hide forever, Marinette!" Bee sang as she entered the park, effectively gaining Ladybug's and Cat Noir's attention.

Without wasting any more time, Ladybug threw her yo-yo into the air, shouting, "Lucky Charm!" With a burst of light, an object fell into her hands. She held it up in confusion. "A mirror?"

"Any time now, Bug!" Cat called out while still fighting off some people.

Her eyes quickly scanned the area, frantically trying to find what else she could use. She looked down at her yo-yo in her hand and then up at Queen Bee. "Got it! Cat! I need you to distract her!"

Cat Noir immediately rushed at Queen Bee, who had seen him coming. She sent her flashes of light flying at him and he repeatedly jumped out of the way. Ladybug spun her yo-yo around and threw it at Queen Bee while she was preoccupied with Cat. It fastened around one of her arms and Ladybug tugged it to gain her attention.

Queen Bee scowled at her before she noticed that the yo-yo string made a straight path back to Ladybug. She smirked. "Bad idea, Ladybug!" Light flashed from her trapped hand and soared straight at Ladybug.

At the very last second, Ladybug brought the mirror in front of her. The light bounced off the surface and flew straight back at Bee.

"Ah!" Bee yelped as the light hit her arm, paralyzing it.

"Cat, grab her other arm!" Ladybug commanded, already running toward Queen Bee.

"No!" Bee objected, but it was too late. Cat had a firm grip on her other arm and pinned her to the ground. Ladybug quickly removed all of the jewelry, the rings, the bracelets, and the necklace and crushed them all under her feet until the akuma flew out of the necklace.

"I knew it! I think you've done enough damage for one day, little akuma," Ladybug said, twirling her yo-yo and throwing it at the butterfly. "Time to de-evilize!" The akuma got caught in her yo-yo as she pulled it back to her, then released it, white and purified. "Bye-bye little butterfly."

She then tossed the mirror into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

A red light enveloped the city, reverting everything back to the way it was. The Parisians around them regained their senses and looked about in bewilderment. Queen Bee turned back into Chloé, who sat on the ground with her head held in her hands. "Ugh, what happened?"

* * *

Back in his lair, Hawk Moth was growling through grit teeth, his hands clenched into tight, shaking fists. " _Damn it!_ I was so close to getting her miraculous!"

With the two of them always working together, Ladybug and Cat Noir had been thwarting his efforts left and right for years now. At what point was he going to get his hands on at least one of their miraculouses?

At that thought, Hawk Moth paused. His brows furrowed as he contemplated more deeply. Perhaps he had been addressing the duo inappropriately this entire time. It wasn't the first time he had this thought, but maybe it was time to revisit it.

"Another day, Ladybug," Hawk Moth said, striding away as the window overlooking Paris closed and left the room dark. "I will have your miraculous."

* * *

Cat Noir looked down at his ring. He didn't use his Cataclysm, so he would have to force a detransformation himself.

He looked below him to the streets, finding that the citizens of Paris were beginning to return to their regular lives. His eyes finally fell on Ladybug next to him.

"A job well done, if I do say so myself," Cat said with a grin that now felt almost unnatural.

Ladybug offered a small smile in return before her earrings began making the beeping sound too. She subconsciously touched them before murmuring, "Right. I guess we're done here for today. We better get going." She was about to use her yo-yo when Cat grabbed her hand.

"You know," he started, "it's only fair if you see me detransform, too. Then we'll be even."

Ladybug peered into his eyes, seriously considering his proposition. Eventually, she looked away.

"I…can we…just forget about what happened today? Like it didn't happen at all?"

Cat's eyes widened in disbelief. "But, Ladybug—"

"But nothing, Cat. It's still better if at least one of us keeps our identities a secret."

He urged, "No one will know but the two of us. I promise."

Ladybug turned back to Cat with a longing look. It would be so easy for them to just completely reveal themselves to each other right now. And no one would know, save for them.

Another beep sounded from both of their miraculouses, making her reconsider again.

"Sorry, Cat. Today won't be that day." She broke from his grasp and ran to the edge of the rooftop, swinging away with her yo-yo as Cat watched her go.

His heart sank with disappointment.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I do read all comments and suggestions, even if I don't reply to them all. So please post them! Every little bit of advice helps me with my writing!**

 **Also, I don't mind taking suggestions for the plot itself. It's a little early for them, to be honest, but I really like the idea of readers being able to influence stories. And I will most definitely give credit if I do decide to use someone else's idea.**

 **I already have a few scenes written for chapter 3, but I will not have it done by this Saturday like I said I would. I do keep a status on my profile of what I am currently working on or if I am on hiatus for school or work. Be sure to look at that if you feel like it's taking a while for chapter updates.**

 **Thanks for reading! :3**

 **-Ram 3/17/2016**

* * *

 **UPDATE:**

 **Parts of this chapter have been rewritten since it was first published! The synopsis: Before, Ladybug and Cat Noir didn't have to worry about Nino and Charlene because they went to the hospital, but with the last chapter re-write, they're still in the park waiting for the ambulance! Queen Bee decides to threaten them to lure Marinette out when Ladybug and Cat Noir show up to stop her. To save their friends, Ladybug uses her Lucky Charm, thus starting the countdown that leads to her identity reveal.**

 **These two chapters were rewritten because I wanted to restore that concept of their magical transformations lasting indefinitely if they didn't use their special abilities.**

 **-Ram 7/7/2016**


	3. Searching at the Beginning

**A/N:**

 **Hello, dear readers! SEASON 1 IS DONE. This is bittersweet because I just want to keep watching more, but this means I get a couple months to write this story (which, knowing how late I am with updates, I may need ahaha).**

 **I would like to thank _Princess Noodle_ for her review. I wasn't aware that if LB and Cat don't use their special powers, that their transformation could last indefinitely, which completely discredits my second chapter D: So, for the sake of this story, let's assume that their transformations have a time limit and using their special abilities cuts that time down to five minutes, 'kay? (SEE UPDATE AT END)**

 **Enjoy this chapter!** ** _Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or its characters, only the plot of this work._**

* * *

Chapter 3: Searching at the Beginning

Marinette was Ladybug.

Ladybug was Marinette.

Whatever way you wanted to put it, they were one and the same.

When Marinette appeared in his arms, he was completely speechless and couldn't help staring at her.

Finally, _finally_ , he got to see her. The _real_ her.

In that instant, he reverted back to Adrien, losing a bit of his confidence and cat-like demeanor in front of her. And he kept tripping up, not quite able to get back up to his Cat Noir par.

Meanwhile, Marinette was still able to focus and get back to the job at hand.

He thought that maybe, possibly, after all was said and done that day, she would want to know who he was too.

And that hope was so short-lived.

Adrien let out another deep sigh. That happened four days ago. Today, he had been laying on his bed staring at the ceiling all morning, trying to wrap his head around this fact. He even refused to leave for any photo shoot or lessons Nathalie had on his agenda, feigning illness.

No matter what he would be doing, there was no way he was going to be able to focus with Ladybug and Marinette on his mind.

He still hadn't come to grips with the fact they were indeed the same person.

Adrien clenched his eyes tightly in frustration. Three years of classes at Dupont with Ladybug sitting right there with him, and he never knew! How come he had never noticed it? It seemed almost obvious, in retrospect.

Marinette was always tired and missing class. She disappeared at the most convenient of times and never seemed to be affected by Hawk Moth's akuma, and then she returned, seemingly unscathed. And never was she impressed by news of Ladybug or Cat Noir.

His cheeks burned crimson with embarrassment every time he thought about his interactions with her as Cat Noir. All of those times he said those terrible puns and acted all-that and a bag of chips in front of her. Dear God. He even flexed his muscles for her.

He threw a pillow over his face and groaned.

Plagg sat at the end of the bed eating camembert. "Relax," he said around a mouthful of smelly cheese. "It's not like she knows you're Cat Noir and will put two and two together."

Adrien removed the pillow to look almost hopefully at his kwami.

"But, oh man, imagine if she did. How embarrassing for you!" Plagg hooted.

Adrien groaned again and shoved the pillow in his face again dejectedly. "What am I supposed to do about this?" came his muffled question.

Plagg popped another piece of cheese in his mouth. "Well, what really can you do about it? It is what it is. You finally found out who the love of your life is, so what does it matter?"

He had a point. What did it matter? He finally knew Ladybug's identity. He should be elated. He swore that he didn't care who was behind that mask—that he would love whoever it was.

But now that he was in the situation, he was finding himself hesitating, the reality of his words sinking in.

Adrien wondered at first if he was disappointed, but he quickly dispelled that thought. Marinette's personality was exactly the same as Ladybug's. She was headstrong and smart and kind to everyone, exactly like Ladybug. She also had her obvious faults, like her quick temper when it came to a certain blonde and her tendency to rush into things when she was too worried—also just like Ladybug.

And he found that to be completely irresistible about his lady.

But why never Marinette?

Adrien smothered his face with the pillow in frustration. When he got that out of his system, he lied there, staring at the ceiling again for quite some time. Eventually, his brows furrowed and he sat up, resolutely reaching for his cell phone.

* * *

After the attack from Queen Bee, Marinette had been checking in on Charlene constantly to make sure she hadn't damaged her. Like, mentally.

The last thing that she wanted was to freak her new friend out, especially after being physically injured. Charlene seemed like she was easily scared to begin with, but Marinette quickly found that she was much more resilient than expected, which came as a relief. Charlene even asked if _she_ was alright, with the amount of times Marinette was asking the question.

Maybe she was right. Maybe she was the one that was a mental wreck.

Since the day she and Cat Noir had fought Queen Bee, she had been ignoring what had happened. Nothing significant had changed since Cat Noir discovered who she really was. It was mostly just Marinette kicking herself in the butt for not being more careful. If she had been more wary of the situation, it wouldn't have ended up like that.

She was also very aware of the fact that she had hurt Cat's feelings, which made her feel terrible. But it was too risky to let anyone know her identity, even if it was him. The fact of the matter was, after all of these years, they still hadn't identified who Hawk Moth was, and she wanted to find him before he got the chance to find her.

Marinette felt a light weight on her shoulder, causing her to look down.

Tikki sat on her shoulder with concern set strong in her expression. "Are you thinking about the other day again, Marinette? You've folded the same shirt five times."

She looked down at her hands. She was taking care of the laundry and hadn't picked up a new garment for the last several minutes. Marinette sighed, "Kind of…the whole thing just kind of left a bad taste in my mouth." Her brows knit together. "Do you think I should have given Cat a chance to detransform in front of me too?"

Tikki shook her head. "It's probably for the best. I mean, your detransformation was just an accident. You should carry on as if that was just another day fighting the akuma."

Marinette sighed again. "Easier said than done."

Her phone rang in her pocket. She pulled it out and checked the number before answering, "Hey, Alya. What's up?"

"Girl, why do you sound so gloomy?" came her friend's voice on the other end.

"It's just been one of those days," she replied shortly.

"Well, I think I have something that will cheer you up!"

Marinette lifted a brow that Alya couldn't see. "Oh yeah? Like what?"

"What would you say to a _double date_ in Montmartre?" she proposed.

Marinette's breathe caught. "You mean…you and Nino and…and…"

"Adrien," Alya laughed. "Yes, he'll be there too. We were thinking about exploring some of the exhibitions over there. You down for it?"

She couldn't get her answer out fast enough, sputtering, "Ah—I mean, if it wouldn't bother—then I guess I—"

"I'll take that as a yes, then," Alya said. "We'll be meeting at the Espace Dalí to start. Can you be there in an hour?"

Marinette nodded, trying to keep her breathing even.

A moment passed. "Marinette?"

"Ah! Yes! Sorry! I'm nervous," she laughed into her phone. She looked askance to her full body mirror, running her fingers through her hair, which had gotten slightly longer over the years, although she still kept it in ponytails.

"Oh geez. Girl, get ahold of yourself! You've been like this for years. I'd think by now you can at least talk to him like a normal person. Either way, just be presentable! See ya then!"

Before Marinette could retort, her friend hung up. She let out another deep sigh and looked at her reflection again. She slowly approached the mirror, a bit distraught, as she always was when it came to Adrien. Scrutinizing her form, Marinette wondered what she should work on first. The obvious one would be her hair. Reaching for the bands holding the pigtails in place, she pulled them out and ruffled her tresses with her fingers. The look wasn't much better.

She groaned. She was fashion student— _not_ a hair stylist.

After a short time, she managed to put herself together and came rushing down the stairs leading to the bakery's storefront, almost bumping into her dad. He was barely able to move his fresh-baked croissants out of her path. "Whoa, Mari! Slow down there! Why the rush?"

Marinette waved a hand to him but didn't stop. "Meeting Alya! Running late! I'll see you later!" She rushed to the front door and hastily swung it open, immediately smashing into a young man. She bounced off and rubbed her nose as she waited for the pain to subside.

"I'm so sorry—" When she made eye contact with the young man, she blinked in surprise. "Oh, Nathan! It's been a while!"

Nathanaël, her former classmate from Dupont, stood there in all his ginger glory, sheepishly scratching his head. His hair was still worn long, but he had upgraded to a black blazer and now stood a whole foot taller than her. "Hey, Marinette," he greeted shyly.

"Were you here to get some sweets?" Marinette asked. "My dad's pastries are the best around."

"Actually, yes. It was the reason my friend and I were stopping by." Nathanaël smiled, taking a step to the side to show another young man standing behind him.

He was about five inches taller than her, and he wore a grey hoodie and black beanie with a bit of dark brown hair sticking out the front. His eyes were a nice ice blue color and they considered her politely. He smiled in greeting.

"This is Matthieu Boyer*," Nathanaël introduced him. "He's Alix's cousin. He and I are going to be classmates at uni this year."

Marinette gave him a grin, looking between the two of them. "Oh, that's great! I made a new friend too. Her name is Charlene. It's so great to have a friend that shares the same kind of work as you do."

"It is," Nathanaël agreed. "You know, maybe we should do a get-together before we all start at school again. Kind of like a send-off party."

"Oh that's a great id—" Marinette paused and gasped. "Oh no! I'm going to be late! Sorry, Nathan! I'm supposed to meet Alya right now. But we should definitely hang out some time."

"Why don't you guys exchange numbers?" Matthieu suggested, speaking for the first time. "Then we can set the date sometime."

"Good idea," Nathanaël said while pulling out his phone. "Do you mind, Marinette?"

Marinette noticed that she was kind of put on the spot, but since it was Nathanaël, she didn't really mind. "Sure. And we'll make a day of it." After swapping numbers, Marinette bade them farewell and took off for the Espace Dalí.

Marinette ran through the streets, not slowing down until a small group came into view in front of the Espace Dalí. Out of breath, she slowed to a jog and waved enthusiastically to Alya before finally walking up to the trio.

"You're late," Alya noted, her hands placed on her hips.

Marinette huffed. "You only gave me an hour's notice! Plus I bumped into someone."

"Who?"

"Nathanaël," she said with a smile. "He introduced me to a new friend. We might be planning a get-together before we all start the new semester."

Alya stood close to her side, talking lower. "Well, we can worry about that another day. You better focus on today's get-together." She gestured towards Adrien who was talking to Nino up until now.

He turned his attention to the ladies and offered her a full smile. "Hey, Marinette. Glad you could make it."

Marinette immediately turned into mush, laughing like a goof. "Ahaha, yeah, of course. I wouldn't have missed it for anything." That sounded desperate. "Uh, I mean, it's nice to get out of the house." And that sounded like she had no life. It was too late to retract what she said so she just laughed some more.

Adrien cocked his head and chuckled. "Well, then. Why don't we head inside?" He turned and started towards the entrance with Nino.

Marinette sighed, glancing at Alya, who shook her head at her before grabbing her arm and dragging her into the exhibition.

Many of the art pieces were surreal, which was exactly the style of Salvador Dalí. His paintings and sculptures at times mimicked something out of nature and then morphed into something dreamlike, almost melting into another form. There were animals and furniture that took on some extreme shapes, many having that "melting" effect, like the clocks in his best known work, _The Persistence of Memory_.

The four of them wandered around aimlessly, taking in the different paintings and sculptures. Marinette was so engrossed with a statue of a melted clock that she almost forgot that she was with other people. Alya came up and elbowed her in the ribs.

"Ouch!" Marinette interjected, rubbing her side. "What was that—?"

"Go and talk to him while you have the chance," Alya ordered. "Nino's wandered off on his own, so this is the perfect opportunity."

Marinette looked to where Adrien was. He was focusing very intently on a sculpture of an elephant, not seeming to notice her and Alya watching him like a bunch of cats waiting to pounce.

Marinette inhaled sharply and then fervently shook her head, refusing to budge from her place. She heard Alya's agitated groan and then felt a strong shove. "Ah!" She stumbled towards Adrien, catching the eyes of passerby, but not him, thankfully. She inched closer to the sculpture opposite of Adrien and peaked her head under it to make eye contact with him.

"A-are you enjoying the exhibition?" she asked meekly.

Adrien blinked and gawked at her. "I am," he replied, clearing his throat. "How about you? Do you like Dalí's work?"

"It's alright. Surrealism was never my favorite. I-I mean," she stammered, glancing away timidly, "I'm no artist. I couldn't give p-proper commentary ahaha…"

He nodded, walking around the sculpture to join her. "I can't say it's my favorite either. His painted portraits are much more fascinating to me." He pointed to one in sight across the exhibit and then looked at her with a grin.

Her eyes made contact with his green ones. They were warm in color and very captivating. For a moment, she couldn't draw her eyes away, very much like when they first met back in high school.

"A-ah, me too." As soon as she spoke, she felt her cheeks flush and averted her eyes, shutting them tightly in embarrassment. A light pressure on her arm made her turn to investigate.

It was just Adrien, still with a small smile adorned on his lips. He stepped forward with his hand still at her elbow to guide her with him.

Everything around Marinette seemed to be happening in slow motion. Adrien brought her around the exhibit, asking for her opinions on a few different things and moving into discussions about other artists and the kinds of styles that they both liked.

She somehow managed to spit out full sentences without stuttering, but she always had a hard time coming up with the next thing to say since her head was swimming with anxious thoughts.

Adrien stopped abruptly in the middle of the room, his brow furrowed as he glanced around. "Say…where are Alya and Nino? I haven't seen them in a while."

Marinette hadn't noticed their friends' disappearance and also started searching. "I don't know…" She pulled out her phone and dialed Alya's number.

The line beeped and went straight to voicemail.

"What the…?" Marinette pulled the phone away from her ear in confusion, ending the call and then redialing. When it went straight to voicemail again, she said to Adrien, "It doesn't look like I'll be able to get ahold of Alya anytime soon."

"I'll try Nino," Adrien offered, pulling out his cell and calling his friend. Marinette couldn't hear anything, but she assumed he got the same answer because he ended the call, shaking his head.

Marinette put her hand to her chin in thought. The exhibit was only so big. They would have run into each other by now. She looked to the entrance of the building. "Maybe they went to look at the exhibits outside."

Adrien nodded. "That's a good possibility. Let's check it out."

They walked outside and started looking around for their friends. After not finding them in the immediate proximity, they widened their area of investigation, wandering through other street exhibits in their search. They both tried Alya's and Nino's phones again and were still sent straight to voicemail.

 _Come on, Alya,_ Marinette said internally. _It's only a matter of time before I make a fool of myself!_

Their search continued for quite a while. A few times, Adrien or Marinette would pause to admire the street art, finding small pieces or graffiti on the walls of buildings they passed.

One in particular caught Marinette's attention. It was a mural on a building of an extremely attractive woman, painted in earthy tones and with a certain fluidity that made Marinette's eyes follow a path all throughout the mural.

There was a stunning landscape stretched out behind her, a striking difference between that and the backdrop of the city of Paris. But what was most prominent was the child painted into the woman's arms that gazed straight at the viewer with piercing blue eyes.

"Gorgeous," Marinette murmured, her eyes not leaving the mural.

She didn't notice Adrien walk up beside her. "It is. Your eyes are the same color."

At the sound of his voice, Marinette flinched but didn't move away, but instead watched him.

He smiled down at her. "I forgot to tell you earlier, but you look very nice today."

Within a half hour, Marinette had managed to cramp in curling her hair, applying light makeup, sorting through clothes, and ultimately deciding on a baby blue dress.

"I don't think I've ever seen your hair down," commented Adrien. "I like it."

Marinette's heart soared. She couldn't think of a time when she received a compliment like that from him. She brushed her hair back behind her ear and laughed bashfully. "O-oh, thanks. It's almost as nice as yours today—I mean, yours is nicer—and I mean, it's nicer every day—" She bit her cheek to make herself shut up.

Adrien quirked a brow and then turned away, stealing one last look at the mural and starting to walk away. He talked over his shoulder, expecting that she would follow. "I suppose that doing your hair and things like that would be important to do if you're going into fashion."

He was awkwardly trying to change the subject. As Adrien, he wasn't much of a flirt and didn't know where to go with the conversation after that compliment.

"Not necessarily," Marinette replied, easily falling into pace beside him. "But I guess that's something that I would have to consider when designing an entire piece."

"You'll be studying fashion design, won't you?"

"Yes," Marinette stated excitedly, giving a toothy grin. "I'll be in school for a while and will have to find an internship eventually. But I already made a friend who will be going to uni with me. That was the girl from the other day—Charlene."

The image of a girl with blood in her hair came to mind. Adrien frowned. "Right. How is she, by the way?"

"She's completely fine. Actually, she's pretty annoyed with how much I'm checking up on her." Then she giggled, a nice, sing-song sound in Adrien's ears. "Thank you for helping her. I didn't get a chance to thank you or Nino."

"You're welcome. I'm glad she's doing well," Adrien said. He looked quizzically at Marinette from the corner of his eye as they kept walking. "So…how did things get resolved with Queen Bee?"

She looked a bit surprised at the question, her eyes looking around for some sort of answer. "O-oh! Ah…well, um, Ladybug came to save me, of course! Cat Noir did too. They had me hide from Queen Bee until they could stop her. It was _really_ scary."

 _Sure it was_ , Adrien sarcastically thought.

"I can't believe that happened," Adrien feigned. "I'm just glad that no one was seriously hurt. Paris is lucky to have Ladybug and Cat Noir around to stop these guys."

Adrien watched Marinette carefully to gauge her reaction to his comment. She didn't seem to notice him, but she looked at the ground with a small smile. Then she pulled out her phone, checking for any calls.

"I supposed I should be heading home now," she said, looking at him. "We've spent a while looking for Alya and Nino. It's getting pretty late."

Adrien hadn't noticed how much time had actually passed and pulled out his own phone to check the time. "Oh wow, it is getting late. How about I walk you home?" he offered. Without waiting for her to respond, he strode forward to her house.

They walked in silence the whole way there. Adrien glanced over at her a few times, not sure whether if it was just him, or if the atmosphere was just…awkward. It wasn't like she was acting any different. In fact, she always acted like this. The only one acting strange was him—all because he knew her secret.

Adrien and Marinette finally made it to the front of the bakery when Adrien's phone rang. They both paused as Adrien answered, "Hello?"

"Hey, bro. How's it going with Marinette?"

Adrien's brows furrowed. "Nino? Where have you been? Have you seen Alya?"

"Relax. She and I snuck off together."

"Why didn't you let us know? Or at least keep your phones on?"

"Well, when the mood strikes, you really don't take a pause or chance interruptions by keeping phones on."

Adrien made a face. "We were in the art exhibit. How did you two—" he turned to Marinette, who he hadn't noticed was intently watching, and choked back his words. He gave her a self-conscious grin. "Um, never mind that. Where are you now?"

Nino laughed. "I'm sitting in the café we usually go to."

"And Alya?"

"Just went home."

"Alright, then. Stay put. I'm heading your way," Adrien said, ending the call.

Marinette asked, "So where were they?"

Adrien kept the grin plastered on his face, unsure what he should tell her. "Uh…they wanted some time to themselves, so they went and looked at another exhibit in Montmartre."

"Oh I see…"

"But Alya went home now, so maybe you should try calling her," Adrien suggested, giving her a real smile and looking her directly in the eyes. "And thank you for coming out today. It was nice to act like tourists for a day."

Marinette giggled, "Sure. I was glad to join you."

"Well then, until next time my—Marinette," he quickly corrected. She blinked at his clear fumble, but he waved and scampered away before she could say anything.

 _I almost called her my Lady_. Adrien mentally kicked himself in the ass. How could he almost let that one slip?

Plagg poked his head out of Adrien's shirt pocket. "You know, your lame jokes may just be your undoing."

"Your commentary isn't making this any better," Adrien said bitterly. He rounded a corner and made his way up to the café, walked in, and searched for Nino. He found him sitting next to the window with two coffees in front of him.

Adrien waltzed up and plopped down in the second chair and stared at his friend with a bit of annoyance.

"I ordered you a cup. Hope that's okay," Nino said with a smirk.

Adrien barely glanced down at the drink before staring back up at him without a word.

"So…" Nino started, "how was your afternoon with Mari? I was surprised when you had asked for us all to go out."

"It was fine. I just needed to get out of the house for once," he fibbed. Nino was his best friend, but he wasn't really willing to admit that Marinette was on his mind as of late. He sighed and picked up the coffee.

"Oh, man. Is your dad still planning out every day for you? Doesn't he realize you're going to be an adult soon?"

Adrien shrugged. "I had to ditch all photo shoots and lessons and sneak out today if that's any indication."

"Isn't he going to be mad when you get back? Weren't you trying to make peace with him so that you could find your own place to stay?"

That was true. He was still trying to find an apartment off campus—although he hadn't enrolled in school yet either. That was another thing he needed to discuss with his father. The only thing he knew about his future for sure was that he did _not_ want to be a model.

"He probably will be mad," Adrien said, "but I also wanted to talk to you about something."

Nino nodded, urging him to continue.

"How do I put it…?" he struggled, rubbing the back of his neck. "You see, there's this girl that I've been thinking about …"

Nino gasped and leaned forward, a stupid grin on his face. "Could it be _Marinette_?" he teased.

Adrien also leaned forward, mocking him. "I'm not _telling_."

His friend leaned back in dissatisfaction. "Man, you're such a letdown." Nino was almost convinced at this point that Adrien was starting to develop some feelings for Marinette. But they were always so awkward together, it was hard to tell.

 _Maybe that's their thing,_ he speculated. _They would be known as that awkward couple._

"But I'm trying to be honest here," Adrien said. "I'm having a hard time talking to this girl. And then there's coming to grips my feelings about her. I just realized how I feel and…" He sighed, making some hand gestures to convey his difficulty. "And I…don't know what to do with it."

"Mhmm. Not so easy when you're the one having to deal with the feels, now is it?"

Adrien looked at him with agitation. "Nino."

He waved him off.

Adrien dropped his head into his hands and groaned. When did his friend develop this much sarcasm? Probably got it from Alya. "I feel like this has been a long time coming, and I want to tell her something super important, but I'm afraid that it would be unwelcome."

Nino looked at his friend with narrowed eyes. "Something? Like, something even I don't know about?" Then he raised his brows and scrutinized Adrien from over his glasses. "Or something I _shouldn't_ know about?"

Adrien made a face and shook his head in denial. "No. Nothing weird like that, man."

It took another second of inspecting his friend's face before Nino accepted his answer, finally getting serious. "Alright, then. If there is some sort of secret you have, wouldn't you want her to know and accept that as part of you too? She couldn't truly like you, otherwise."

Adrien considered Nino's words carefully. His situation with Ladybug was a bit more complicated, since she didn't even know who he really was. And from today, he couldn't tell if she even liked him as Adrien, let alone Cat Noir.

Over the years, especially with Nino and Alya dating, he was seeing Marinette more and more. But they still had a hard time holding a complete conversation with each other and she was always breaking eye contact with him if it was ever more than a few seconds.

Unexpectedly, Adrien began to fear that she was actually intimidated by his presence. He wasn't being egotistical, but after modeling for his father and taking so many etiquette courses, he was aware of the fact that he carried himself differently than others. Maybe it made her uncomfortable.

"I don't even know if she likes my normal self," Adrien worriedly admitted. "At all."

Nino laughed and shook his head. "Well, that's probably something you should figure out first before revealing your dark side, bro."

Adrien chuckled embarrassedly. He had been so concerned about whether he liked Ladybug as Marinette, he hadn't given her feelings any consideration. Did she dislike him as Adrien? Did she like him as Cat Noir? Did she truly not want to know who he was? All good questions…

"I think I'll just ask her about it," Adrien thought out loud, sipping at his coffee.

"I think I'd be a bit more subtle about it, if I were you," Nino replied. "No need to be so awkward, you know?"

Adrien gave him another funny look. "I had to coach you through a disastrous date at the zoo a while back."

Nino shrugged. "Details."

* * *

Marinette stepped out onto the small balcony above her bedroom. She breathed in the crisp night air and exhaled in a sort of ecstasy. It had been a while since she was able to relax by herself.

Tikki was downstairs, napping on her pillow, her parents were probably asleep by now, and she had just got off the phone with Alya, who talked her ear off about their double date earlier. It had also been a while since she had been around Adrien, not including the incident with Queen Bee. The only times that she would ever see him was around town or when Alya or Nino were involved. So when the two of them were done with each other, Marinette's time with Adrien also expired. She would give anything if she could have a little more time with him.

Even if every other word that fell out of her mouth was a garbled mess.

She groaned and rubbed her face to ease away the residual blush. When she dropped her hands from her face, she was met by a pair of green eyes.

"Gah!" She yelped, jumping back in surprise. The figure of a big black cat climbed up onto her little balcony and looked around casually, not even acknowledging her mild distress.

"Cat Noir! What are you doing here?" Marinette questioned him.

"What can I say? I just gravitate towards you, Bugaboo." Cat smiled, perching himself on the railing.

"Stop that," she ordered. "We're supposed to forget that you know about me being Ladybug."

He sat there indignantly. "I never agreed to that."

Marinette crossed her arms in annoyance.

"No need to be a sour puss," Cat teased with a wink. Then he cleared the smirk off his face, trying to be more serious. "Why again is it so important to you to keep your identity a secret from me? And for me to keep mine from you?"

Marinette inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to think of how she could explain it to him. "It's…assurance. Although, I guess that doesn't really apply to me anymore."

"Mind explaining further?"

"I mean, what if one of us were to get akumatized in our normal lives? We would have no control over ourselves. What if we revealed the other's secret to everyone? What if Hawk Moth somehow found out?"

Cat nodded with consideration. He leaned forward and leaned one elbow on his leg, resting his chin in his hand. He eyed her closely. "And how likely do you think that is to happen?"

Marinette shrugged and sat down on her chair she had placed outside. "You never know. We aren't perfect. We lose control of our emotions too."

"I'll concede to that, although since we've become Ladybug and Cat Noir, it hasn't happened yet. So…were there any other reasons you'd like to share?" He looked at her expectantly.

Marinette shifted uncomfortably. It felt like he was daring her to come up with some other absurd excuse just for him to discredit it. He had never pushed her about this topic until now. What was up with that?

"If we knew each other in our regular lives, we might get too comfortable with each other," she said, knowing she was grasping at straws right now. "We'd probably slip up and reveal our identities to others."

Cat snorted. "We've been doing this for years now and you're seriously concerned about a small slip of the tongue?" he scoffed.

Marinette glared at him. Was he _trying_ to annoy her?

She stood suddenly and started to head inside. "Goodnight, Cat Noir."

A hand on hers made her pause. She turned around only to find Cat's face a few inches from her own. His expression was more serious again.

Softly, he asked, "Do you dislike the idea of getting too comfortable with me?"

Marinette didn't know how respond. Cat was just so…earnest about his feelings. Normally not in a pushy kind of way, but more innocent and vulnerable. He never hid the fact that he cared for her and liked her, and he always wore his heart on his sleeve. He had been this way for the last three years, and she had never even given him more consideration than what was given to friends. Suddenly, she felt very guilty.

Before she could say anything, Cat gently released her hand and backed away. He smiled at her. "Goodnight, Princess." With that, he sprung away, blending into the night that fell on Paris.

Marinette hesitantly stepped forward to put her hands on the railing where Cat had been sitting and stared out over the city's night lights. After a moment, her brows wrinkled and she rested her forehead on the railing, closing her eyes.

She tried so hard to wish away that last image of Cat. That had been the saddest smile she had ever seen him wear.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **So, this chapter ended up being longer than I anticipated. I usually try to get around 4,000 words, but this one had OVER 5,600! O_O I also had most of this done within five days, but one scene was really messing me up and I just couldn't sit down to write it.**

 **Another thing to mention, Montmartre and the exhibit are really places in Paris and I very much relied on Google for that information lol**

 **What do you guys think of Nino? I feel like he's a little OOC, but I kind of wanted to portray him as that sarcastic but supportive friend that Adrien could rely on. I also plan on him showing up in the story more.**

 **I am in the last month of my semester right now, so I will be really busy with projects and homework and such and don't know when I'll get back to writing. I'm hoping not too long. Wish me luck!**

 **-Ram 4/3/2016**

* * *

 **UPDATE:**

 **Regarding the review left by _Princess Noodle_ —if you have been following along with my updates, you'll have noticed that this issue regarding the indefinite transformations has been addressed with the partial re-writes of chapters 1 and 2.**

 ***Matthieu Boyer- This character has a sketch on DeviantArt! My username on DeviantArt is tayram. I have a whole folder (entitled "Vanish") dedicated to this fanfiction for you to look at character sketches.**

 **-Ram 7/7/2016**


	4. Foe with Incentive

**A/N:**

 **Howdy! Long time no see friends! :D Sorry this update took so long! I had finals, then I was having a hard time finding work, and it was just a big mess. Blah.**

 **A reviewer mentioned their dislike for my use of "Cat Noir" instead of "Chat Noir." No, it is not due to auto correct (sorry), that was deliberate. I mentioned in an earlier author's note that this fanfiction would mostly be based on the English episodes, even though I know some people may dislike that. It was a personal choice.**

 **Another thing that I would like to mention, I am working full time throughout the summer, and while I intend to be more active than I have been the last two months, I can't promise weekly updates.**

 **In the meantime, please enjoy this chapter! _Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or its characters, only the plot of this work._**

* * *

Chapter 4. Foe with Incentive

"Adrien, I'm going to need you to look like you're actually present, if you would."

Adrien looked at the photographer, snapping to attention. He scratched his cheek sheepishly. "Ah, sorry." He moved his arm around his fellow model, a girl who was a year younger than him. Her name was Karoline Mercier*.

She was strawberry blonde with freckles and amber eyes. Her frame was small, almost pixie-like. It was unusual for models to be so short, but it provided her a very unique niche doing a lot of fantasy modeling jobs and shoots.

They had worked together a couple times over the years. For today, they were doing a storybook themed photoshoot, and Adrien was supposed to be Karoline's prince charming.

He tugged at his stiff collar, feeling extremely uncomfortable in the royal getup. He wasn't even sure why he was doing this job. Gabriel Agreste's taste in fashion was usually more high-end and modern with a few risky pieces mixed somewhere in the middle. He wondered sometimes what went through his father's mind.

Adrien was having a hard time getting into his role, which happened from time to time, especially when all he was doing as of late was completing one thing after another on the agendas Nathalie was still putting together for him.

Internally, he felt like he was still a child, obeying his father's demands in the hopes of some sort of approval. At this point in his life, Adrien was wondering if he would ever have that rebellious phase and finally become his own man. He supposed the lack of his action was due to the fact that he had Cat Noir as his adventurous outlet.

Maybe it was getting to the point where the alter ego wasn't enough anymore.

"Ah! Adrien! You aren't giving me enough!" The photographer complained. "Take five. When we start again, I'm only giving you _five frames_ to get it. Got it?" He pointed at Adrien in an aggressive, almost threatening way and then stormed off.

Adrien sighed and went to grab a water bottle from a nearby table. He sat down and waited anxiously for Nino. After the shoot today, the two of them were going to go look at apartments together. This would be the first time that they would be looking for alternative living. Nino already determined that he would be living in the dorms on campus, so Adrien was looking at single living apartments.

"Hey, Adrien," called Karoline, sidling up close to his side.

He had to crane his neck back to look at her properly. He offered a small smile, not very enthusiastic. "Oh, hey Karoline. Do you need something?"

She shook her head. "Not really, just wondering if you're okay. You seem really out of it today."

He shrugged. He didn't want to talk to her about his actual problems. "I think I'm just overworked a little. I apologize. I seem to be aggravating the photographer more than anything."

"Nah, don't worry about that uptight pansy," Karoline said, waving it away. "Is there anything I can do to help relieve your stress? We've only got _five_ frames to get it done." She giggled and eyed him keenly.

Adrien snorted. "Well, I better get it together then." He gave her a more sincere smile. "Just keep doing a good job. That's help enough."

"Oh, look at you, trying to be so modest about it. You really want a hug, don't you?" She stood in front of him and extended her arms. She motioned him to come over with her hands and a grin on her lips. "Get over here, you gloomy lug."

He hesitated, but then chuckled and stood up to hug her. She was so tiny that he towered over her.

From over her head, he could see Nino walk up to the edge of the set, staring at the two of them intently. He pointed at Karoline, made a heart with his hands, and then raised his arms in question.

Adrien glanced down at Karoline and then snapped his head back up with wide eyes, shaking his head vehemently in denial.

Nino cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes in disbelief.

It probably wasn't helping that he was hugging Karoline. He sighed and leaned back from her, making an excuse to leave her side. After she accepted it, he walked over to Nino.

Before he could explain himself, Nino said, "Do _not_ try lying to me after what I just saw."

"It's not like that, I swear," Adrien sighed again. "You know me better than that. I'm not into the model types." His mind wandered to a certain raven-haired girl.

Nino crossed his arms, looking around his friend to the strawberry blonde briefly. "That's true." He eyed his model friend with a smirk. "Nice threads, by the way. I'm really digging them."

"Shut up," Adrien quipped. "Did you bring the list?"

Nino held up a folded paper and started opening it up to reveal the names of apartment complexes and homes for rent. "Of course. I figured we could start with this one. It's not too far from here. I made a little mental route so that we can cut down travel time between each one."

The blond nodded and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Good thinking, Nino. Thanks so much for helping me out."

"What else are friends for?" He folded up and pocketed the list. "Have you told your pop yet that you're looking to move out?"

Adrien drew his lips in a tight line and slowly shook his head.

" _Bro_ ," Nino said with exasperation. "What are you waiting for? You'll have to tell him eventually."

"I just…haven't thought about how to explain it to him."

"Why do you have to explain it? Just tell him that you're ready to be your own person."

Adrien started to sweat a little, his anxiety beginning to take form.

Nino noticed. "I know, I know. It's not all that simple with your dad." He looked at the set. "Looks like everyone's coming back from their break. How much longer do you have? Watching you pose like a prince isn't exactly my idea of exhilarating."

Adrien glanced at the photographer in disdain. "I've only got _five frames_ to get it," he mocked. "See you after."

* * *

Marinette's room was in complete disarray. Clothes and notebooks and other supplies were strewn about her room, filling up her bed and chairs and desk. It was going to be a while before she left for the university, but her mother insisted that she started packing now to save the headache later.

It was also a good distraction from Cat Noir's visit last week. No new villains had popped up in the last few days and they hadn't gone on any night patrols, so Marinette hadn't had to deal with Cat yet, and it was weighing on her mind.

The first box sat empty on her bed, awaiting her clothes. Marinette stretched her arms in front of her and cracked her knuckles. "Alright, Tikki! Time to get started!"

She had barely packed in three shirts before her phone suddenly buzzed. She picked it up to read a message. It was from Nathanaël.

 _Hey! It was good seeing you again. Are you free to talk about plans for the sendoff party? Hope to hear from you soon!_

Marinette smiled to herself. It was nice to have new friends as well as reconnecting with old ones. After he was akumatized while they were attending Dupont, Nathanaël had begun avoiding her whenever they had class or saw each other in the halls.

It took a little bit of time and effort, but she was able to break down that barrier created by his embarrassment. He was a really great artist and had some potential to make it big in animation or something else in entertainment. It made Marinette happy to know that he was pursuing his dreams.

She texted him back.

 _Hey Nathan! I'm packing my stuff for uni right now, but we can definitely text about it! :)_

Marinette started packing her things in her box when her phone buzzed right away. Nathan again.

 _Awesome :) well I had a few ideas for location and things to do_

She replied, _Well let me hear them!_

They chatted for a while, discussing the various things that they could include at the party, what to do if there were any complications, what supplies they would need, and a certain few persons that would not be invited.

 _Do you care if I invite Charlene?_ Marinette asked.

Nathanaël replied, _Only if I can invite Matthieu. But I don't think either of us will have a problem with those two :P_

Marinette giggled, packing the last of her winter shirts into the box. She texted him back.

 _Cool! I think that we have most of the stuff settled. I have to go now. Let's chat again! :)_

She set down her phone and taped up her box, looking around at the rest of items that she need to pack. She sighed and picked up her lonesome box.

"Time to find some motivation, Marinette!" Tikki floated up beside her.

"Right!" Marinette determinedly strode across the room to get the box out of the way when her phone buzzed again. "Oh! Better check that!" She hurried back to her cell.

"So close," Tikki muttered.

Marinette turned on the screen to see the icon, which showed an unfamiliar number. "Who…?" She unlocked the phone to read the whole message.

 _Did you guys finish making those plans for the send-off party?_

Marinette furrowed her eyebrows, hesitantly replying, _Who is this?_ She waited until she got the response, which took a few irritating minutes.

 _Sorry._ _This is Matthieu Boyer. Nathan introduced us a few days ago._

Marinette blinked in surprise. Did Nathan give him her number or something? That seemed really out of character of him. She replied, _I remember. And we did for the most part. Did you need to know what they are?_

If he really needed to know something, he really could have asked Nathanaël.

"Who is it, Marinette?" Tikki said, floating up beside her head.

"It's that Matthieu guy Nathanaël introduced us to last week," she said, confusion still thick in her voice. They sat there staring at her phone for another few minutes, getting very impatient. Her phone finally buzzed.

 _No. If I need that I can get it from him. He wasn't answering his phone. Sorry to bother you._

Marinette rolled her eyes and sighed. She looked at Tikki. "That was pretty odd, don't you think?"

Tikki nodded. "Definitely. He could have waited for Nathanaël to get back to him."

"I agree," Marinette said. She thought for a minute to try to rationalize his actions. "Maybe he's the anxious type." She looked a Tikki again. They shrugged at each other and then Marinette turned her attention to her mess of a room. "This is going to be quite the endeavor."

* * *

They had looked at several different locations around Paris. A few of them were a bit too expensive for Adrien, even with his modeling paychecks. There was also the consideration for which university he would be attending and the distance between the locations. And transportation. And waiting lists. The list of considerations was actually quite extensive.

But there were a few that were looking really good to Adrien. One in particular had a lot of what he was looking for. The location was close to a university he was considering, the bus route was nearby too, and the price was reasonable, if he can somehow keep his jobs while attending classes.

And if he didn't piss his father off too much.

A box was sitting on his bed and he stared at it for a moment. It was daunting. Everything in his life had been controlled up until this point. Adrien was now making his first adult decision without getting pre-approval from his father. By packing his stuff in this box, it was as if his decision was becoming something tangible. Final.

Adrien's cell phone rang in his back pocket. He pulled it out. "Hey, Nino."

"Hey, man. I just got off the phone with the manager. It looks like a resident just put in a notice and there's an opening."

"Ah! That's great!" Adrien got excited, but then lost his enthusiasm when he thought it over more. "But then there might be someone ahead of me on the wait list. They'd probably get preference."

Adrien, with his box, strode over to his closet, opening the doors to reveal built-in shelves and drawers. On top of one of the shelves was a perched Plagg, vegetating with his block of camembert. Adrien's nose wrinkled at the smell.

"You see, that's why you have a friend like me that personally knows the manager. He shared with me that there were only two applicants ahead of you, but that their background checks and credit scores didn't come back as optimally as they would have liked. You should have no problem passing those preliminaries. You know, unless your _dark side_ consists of lying, cheating, and stealing," Nino laughed.

"Ha ha, very funny." Adrien decided to start on the drawers. He pulled open the first one and started emptying its contents into the box.

"Speaking of which," Nino said, "have you talked to that girl? About what we discussed before?"

Adrien sighed. He really didn't want to dwell on that right now. "How about we focus on one problem at a time?"

"Bro, you gotta clue me in. How else am I supposed to impart my wisdom?"

"Is that what we're calling it now?"

"I'm just saying, if I'm supposed to give you advice, you need to give me more information to work with. If she's not a model, what kind of girl is she? And if you're working all the time, how in the world did you meet her?"

"Can we stop talking about my love life for a second to talk about something else? Like maybe yours?" Adrien finished the first drawer and moved to the next. "How's it going with Alya? Is she getting ready for school too?"

There was a pause. "…yeah. She's been busy with finishing her registration and scheduling classes already."

Adrien noticed the change of mood and stopped to focus on the conversation. "Is that a problem or something?"

"No…it's just…I wonder about things sometimes. Like, will she meet someone new? Or will she be too busy to talk? Or will we grow apart? You know, stuff like that."

"That seems like normal stuff to worry about. But is it bothering you that badly?"

"More than I'd like to admit."

"Did you mention it to Alya? I'm sure she'd understand."

"I did. And then we kind of fought about it."

Adrien made a face in disbelief. "That doesn't seem like something she'd fight about."

Nino laughed on the other end. "It's not. But I stupidly kept insisting that attending uni would change things for us. She got irritated and has been ignoring my calls for the last two days."

"Hmm…it sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Don't start making up problems that haven't occurred yet, Nino. Of course uni will change you both, hopefully for the better."

Adrien returned to his drawer and started packing again.

"Right, I'm hoping so." He chuckled. "Look who's imparting wisdom now."

Adrien laughed. "Yeah, well, you've always been needy." He removed a shirt from the back corner of the drawer and heard something rattle against the wood. He glimpsed into the drawer and saw something green.

He peeked at the clock. "Hey, Nino, I've gotta go. Father should have a little bit of free time and I want to catch him before he gets busy again."

"I gotcha. Good luck, man. I know it won't be easy."

"Thank you. And good luck with Alya. Let me know if we need to organize another group outing." He heard Nino laugh and then hung up his cell, tucking it back into his pocket again.

Adrien looked back at the object for a minute in confusion. He didn't know what it was at first and wondered when it had gotten in his drawer. He slowly picked it up and examined it. It looked like some sort of charm.

He suddenly remembered the importance of the object and closed his hand around it. He held it close.

Plagg floated down to his eye level. "You know, you're kinda needy too, relying on whatever comfort you think this old junk will give you." He nudged Adrien's hand.

Adrien quirked a brow. "Then I suppose you have nothing of sentimental value? Besides that disgusting cheese?"

"It has never failed to bring me comfort in my times of need."

The blond shook his head.

Packing the rest of the items from his drawer, he took a deep breath and strode to his bedroom door. He stopped at the threshold and looked back at his room. It was going to be difficult for him for this drastic change in his life. He was going to have to be self-reliant. Adrien breathed in steadily.

 _Mom…I think I've finally got some luck. Help me find the courage._

He walked through the enormity of the home, each step feeling heavier than the last. His nerves were silently welling inside him as he approached the doors of Gabriel Agreste's office. His ears strained to hear if there were any noises inside—possibly an excuse to turn right back around and cower in his room.

That thought stopped him short.

Cower?

Since when did he cower? All of his life he spent his time following schedules and doing jobs and staying in this forsaken prison of a home. Then he met Plagg. He had been fighting akumatized villains and Hawkmoth for three years now. He was looking at moving out and starting his own life, which he didn't know what held in store for him. There was all of this fear of the unknown, and he couldn't let that hold him back.

But this man was the only thing, the only person, to make him falter like he did, to make him lose his confidence. Sure, his father was intimidating, but when was he finally going to grow a pair and confront him?

Now. He would do it now.

Adrien threw open one of the doors, not bothering to knock. Gabriel looked up from his desk, a bit in bewilderment. Adrien walked in, his eyes locked resolutely with his father's. Gabriel's brows furrowed.

"Adrien, that door was closed for a reason. I'm busy."

"There's something that I have to talk to you about," Adrien stated.

Gabriel frowned. "This is what Nathalie is for. If you have—"

"It _has_ to be you," Adrien interrupted.

There was a moment of silence between them. Adrien didn't break eye contact with Gabriel. He had to understand that he was serious.

After a few more seconds, Gabriel said, "Alright. I'm listening."

Adrien pulled in a sharp breath and then held it, panicking. _Crap! I wasn't sure I would get even this far. I don't know how to start._

He cleared his throat. "Father, I don't know if you've even given it consideration, but…that is…everyone else my age…my friends are all starting college and moving away now…" He paused, not sure if _that_ was exactly how he wanted to word it.

Gabriel waited for the rest, entwining his fingers and resting his hands on his desk in front of him.

Adrien gulped and started again. "I'm sure you know what I'm going to say next."

Damn it. Beating around the bush again. _Just say it, you scaredy-cat!_ _Ugh. Not the time to be joking around._

Adrien inhaled. He breathed it out.

"I want to move out."

The words hung there in the air, almost palpable. Adrien's heart was pounding in his chest, but he didn't break eye contact with Gabriel. And of course his father was as stone faced as ever. He didn't even react to what he just said.

Was it possible that he had already thought about this scenario and had decided his answer long ago? It was something that every parent must have thought of at one point or another. But they had never once discussed it.

Gabriel eventually sighed. "Well, thank God you finally said it."

Adrien blinked. "What?"

"Well, what were you expecting?" Gabriel got up from his seat and walked around the desk. "Of course I already thought about this. I wasn't planning for you to live out the rest of your life in this house."

The young blond looked around, seeing if his surroundings were real. He must be dreaming right?

His father continued, coming to a halt in front of him. "I was beginning to think that you were never going to get the gumption to leave. You need to be motivated in life in order to find success."

Success. And what did that mean in Gabriel Agreste's mind?

"And of course you should be attending school. You're a smart kid, and I'm sure a lot of universities will be willing to accept you."

A compliment. Probably the first one he had ever heard come out of his father's mouth. Someone mark this date down on a calendar.

Gabriel started back towards his seat. "You'll need to be in a business program that has excellent credentials, especially since you'll need to know how to manage this kind of business once you take over."

And there it was.

Adrien said, "Father. I didn't have any intentions of taking over any of this from you."

Gabriel stopped right before he got to his chair. "You didn't." He stated it more than asked it, like he already suspected it.

"No, I didn't," repeated Adrien. "I was looking at local universities. And I think I decided which one. I even looked at an apartment nearby."

"You never mentioned your plans to me."

"And neither did you."

Gabriel's jaw visibly set, rustling Adrien's nerves. He immediately squelched them and held his ground.

"Alright," his father said. "And I suppose you'll be working to pay your rent and tuition. What were you planning on doing for work?"

"I was still planning on doing the modeling jobs."

Gabriel raised a brow incredulously. "So you don't want to work in this industry, but you want the jobs…that I would have to provide for you?"

Adrien nodded his head slowly. "Yes, but not jobs specifically for your business, necessarily. I was thinking of the other contracts that you've been building on. This way, you and I can both benefit from it."

"And you think that I will just comply?"

"No. I never expected you to just go with it." Adrien, although more than a bit fretful, raised his chin to his father. "I'm asking for a favor. Until I can find something myself and stand on my own two feet."

The great fashion designer looked over his son, his expression considerably stony and hard to read. Adrien's stomach turned as the seconds passed by.

Gabriel sighed and then took a seat in his chair. "So you want your independence, but you require assistance to get it. I can't say that I completely agree with that, since being an independent adult means you take care of your responsibilities yourself." He entwined his fingers in front of him again. "But I'm not as heartless as you might think me to be, son. I'll help you, but on my terms."

Adrien's eyes widened, taken aback. At first, he wasn't sure if his father would even consider helping him with the jobs, especially after denouncing his inheritance of the business.

Gabriel continued. "You must remain in contact with Nathalie, as I assume you don't want her dropping by all the time." Adrien nodded in agreement. "You must maintain your grades at the university. I will not tolerate any slacking in your academics." Another nod from Adrien. "And finally, this will be on a temporary basis. I'm only going to give you so much time before I expect you to have found other work to support yourself, as you said."

A time limit. Difficult if he didn't find other work in time, but not impossible. Adrien nodded his head once more.

"Good," Gabriel said. "Then I think this conversation is over. Inform Nathalie when you have a date to move into that apartment you mentioned."

Adrien wasn't even sure if he could get into that apartment yet. But that didn't matter. The way his father ended that conversation wasn't exactly a heartfelt farewell, but that didn't matter either. He was going to move out. He was going to be his own person.

He was going to live his life.

An enormous smile stretched from ear to ear and Adrien murmured, "Thank you, Father." Then he rushed out the door, praying that he wouldn't wake up as soon as he left that office.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I stepped away from all the feels that Adrien/Cat Noir has for LB/Marinette to give you a little slice of life, and to show Adrien's growth since high school.** **I had a little bit of a hard time with this chapter because I want these conversations that Adrien is having to sound realistic.**

 **France does not have a credit system like the US does. Instead, they just look at negative information, and if it looks really bad, a person becomes "Interdit bancaire" (forbidden to bank). And from what I understand, employers are limited in the information they can get in a background check, but I wasn't able to find anything relating to apartment rentals in my Google searches. For now, I'm going to use my American/English vernacular because I don't know how to word this stuff otherwise.**

 **Also, in France, an apartment is called "appartement," "chambre," or "piyce." I know in some European countries they call them flats. But since I _love_ my English, I will be using the word "apartment," as it is similar in French.  
**

 **I was kind of in a rush to finish this chapter, because I promised myself that I would get it done. So it is probably riddled with grammatical errors and things like that. I might change some sentences here and there, but nothing major to affect the story. I'll let you know in this A/N when I edit.**

 **Sorry for the long A/N! Remember to review! Thanks all! :D :D  
**

 **-Ram 5/25/2016 12:30 AM**

* * *

 *** EDITS HAVE BEEN MADE**

 **Like I said above, I made some edits for grammar/spelling/wording. Nothing has changed related to the story.**

 **I received a message asking if I am taking fanfiction requests. Whether related to this fanfic or starting a new one, yes I am taking requests! However, I can't guarantee when I will start a new one, especially if I'm not familiar with what you're requesting. But feel free to message me! I don't bite :3**

 **-Ram 5/25/2016 4:10 PM**

* * *

 **UPDATE:**

 ***Karoline Mercier- This character has a sketch on DeviantArt! My username on DeviantArt is tayram. I have a whole folder (entitled "Vanish") dedicated to this fanfiction for you to look at character sketches.**

 **-Ram 7/7/2016**


	5. Product of Envy

**A/N:**

 **Greetings! I finally got this chapter done! I spent quite a while editing this one, because I rushed these last few days to finish it. Also personal stuff, blah blah blah.**

 **Also, I rewrote portions of chapters 1 and 2. This was to correct the issue revolving around how long the transformations lasted. With these rewrites, it makes the transformations indefinite, like they should be. There is an "UPDATE" section at the bottom of all the previous chapters that includes a brief synopsis of what changed if you don't want to reread the whole thing.**

 **Other than that, I don't think I have anything else to mention, besides my little surprise in the author's note at the end of this chapter :3**

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or its characters, only the plot of this work.**_

* * *

Chapter 5: Product of Envy

 _Nathan and I were wondering if you wanted to grab a bite to eat._

Marinette squinted her eyes at her phone. Matthieu Boyer. The first time he texted her was three days ago, and today had been the first time he got ahold of her since then.

So it wasn't like this guy was messaging her every day and being annoying. Except he was annoying. Mari couldn't put her finger on it. But something about the guy was off.

She texted him back, _Sorry I can't today. I'm working at my family's bakery._

Marinette glanced under the counter at her purse from which Tikki poked her head out of. She watched her worriedly. Mari slightly shook her head to reassure her that it wasn't a big deal.

Her cell buzzed in her hand.

 _Alright. Are you free tomorrow? Nathan said he'd like to hang out again._

What bothered Marinette was probably the way Matthieu was speaking for Nathanaël, as if he can't do anything for himself. Was it because Matthieu was interested in her and using their friend as a cover up? No, that sounded a bit conceited.

Maybe Matthieu was trying to set her and Nathanaël up on dates by saying that they're friendly outings and then ditch them at the last second so they could have "alone time." But she was sure that Nathan didn't like her like that anymore.

Either way, it didn't sit well with Marinette.

The yammering coming from her friends in the shop caught her attention. She glanced up to the sight of Alya and Charlene talking. Well, more like Alya was spurting enthusiastically about some stuff and Charlene was diligently trying to absorb every word of it.

It made Mari giggle. She sent a text back to Matthieu. _Can I get back to you on that?_

She pocketed her cell phone and then walked around the counter to join the other two ladies, carrying a tray of croissants. She offered one to each them. "What crazy Ladybug theories is she trying to push on you, Charlene?"

Charlene was in her signature stance with her shoulders turned in and a finger twirling around a lock of her mousy brown hair. "Oh, well, she was insisting that Ladybug—"

"Is totally going to be a college student this year!" Alya interjected, a big smile on her face and her cell grasped in her hand. "Do you remember back in high school Ladybug dropped that history book we had? If she's our age, then that means she'll be going to college too!"

Alya squealed. "Maybe she'll be going to the same university as _me_! Can you imagine that? What if we were _roommates_?"

Mari snorted and shared a look with Charlene. Marinette posed the question, "Who says she's even _going_ to college?" This made Alya frown.

"Right," Charlene started, "even if she was, it might not even be in Par—"

" _Shuuush._ " Alya put a finger up to the brunette's lips. "You two will _not_ burst my bubble." As she lowered her hand, she knocked the croissant out of Charlene's hand before she could even take her first bite.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that," Alya said, offering hers to Charlene and picking up the other one to put into the trash.

Charlene spoke quietly. "That's okay. I seem to have terrible luck. Yesterday I got bumped and my glasses fell off. Someone stepped on them." She fiddled with the pair of glasses she was wearing. They had wire rims instead of those stylish thick rims seen everywhere nowadays.

Marinette came over with another croissant for Alya, which she took dejectedly. Obviously, they did burst her bubble. Mari put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Alya, don't be upset. Ask Ladybug for an interview. I'm sure she could answer some of your questions if you don't probe too deeply."

Alya looked hopefully at her friend who gave her a reassuring smile. "That's a great idea Marinette! If I can pull her aside the next time there's an akuma attack, I could totally get her to answer some of my questions!"

* * *

The entrance to the bakery was only a couple paces in front of Adrien, but he was having a hard time making his feet move. Suddenly, they weighed approximately the same as cinder blocks. It had been about a week since he last saw Marinette as either himself or Cat Noir. No new akuma had popped up and no reason to see Mari had presented itself.

Except now his _new_ apartment wasn't even a block away. He just signed the papers today. It provided the perfect excuse to stop in for sweets and to "unexpectedly" bump into Marinette. But he didn't even know if she would welcome him. Either side of him.

So, here he stood, frozen stiff in front of the bakery and wondering if stopping by was the best of ideas. Maybe he could try to set up another group outing. Nino and Alya _were_ fighting this time…

A nudge from his good friend made him doubt this plan. He had already done this once. If he asked to set it up again, his growing interest in Mari would be too obvious. It would be better to go with "conveniently" stopping by for now.

"Dude, are you just gonna stand there or go in?"

"I, uh, wasn't sure what pastry I was going to get," Adrien quickly responded.

"Well, deliberate in the shop, why don't ya?"

Adrien gulped, getting nervous and doubting his plan even more. "Ah, but, I don't know if I even want something from here."

Nino's face deadpanned. "You walked right up to the shop door, determined to get your pastry, and then just stopped and decided you don't want it anymore? You have dragged me all around this side of town today. _We are getting your damned pastry_."

Nino forcefully shoved Adrien into the door, disastrously knocking a girl back on her haunches.

She held her hand up to her nose and glasses, which were bent from the impact of the door. Some blood dripped from her face.

Adrien immediately recognized her. "Oh crap! Charlene! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit you." He offered out his hand to her. She sat there, dazedly staring at it before taking it. He heaved her to her feet.

"Man, look what you did." Nino sauntered up to get a better look from over his shoulder.

"Nino!" Adrien hissed. "This is your fault!"

"You had to get that pastry so badly that you shoved the poor girl her on her butt. Not cool, man."

The blond narrowed his eyes at him.

The boys hadn't noticed that during this, Alya and Marinette dashed around the shop for something to clot Charlene's bloody nose.

Marinette finally rushed up in between Adrien and Charlene with some napkins in hand. "That looks like it hurts. It's not broken is it?"

Adrien's eyes watched her every move. His heart beat unsteadily. Had it only been a week? It seemed like ages ago since he last saw her.

Charlene gathered the napkins under her nostrils. Her speech was thus impaired. "I'mb fined, it's not brokend. Thank you."

He watched Mari breathe out a sigh. "It's too bad about your glasses, though. You don't happen to have a third pair, do you?"

Charlene shook her head. "No, and that's just my luck."

"Sounds like quite the _cat_ astrophe."

There was silence in the room as everyone whipped their heads to Adrien. His mouth clamped shut once he realized what had just slipped out of his mouth.

Shit. Puns were Cat Noir's thing, not Adrien's. Sometimes the frisky feline persona escaped its enclosure and he had to wrangle that sucker back in. But, dear Lord, why did it have to be in front of Marinette? She would put two and two together eventually if he kept slipping up like this.

Nino leaned over and murmured, "Cat puns—also not cool."

Adrien nervously laughed and glanced over at Marinette. Had she noticed yet? That he was Cat Noir? No, she couldn't have possibly jumped to that conclusion so fast. That rationale didn't ease his nerves though.

What was wrong with him? Marinette had been his classmate all throughout high school. Why did his knowing that she was Ladybug have to affect him so much?

The others resumed their normal conversation with Marinette scolding Nino and Alya inspecting Charlene's glasses, wondering if they were salvageable. Clearly, his joke had been forgotten, and he sighed with relief.

Adrien walked up to Alya, who still had the glasses. He addressed Charlene. "I still feel bad for breaking your glasses. If you want, you can send the bill for a new pair to my fa—" He stopped short. "You can have it sent to my new apartment." Like hell he was going to rely on his father. Adrien Agreste was now responsible for his own bills. He felt proud of himself and smiled.

"No, Adrien," said Alya. "If anyone should be responsible for the glasses, it would be Nino." She shot an icy glare at her boyfriend.

Nino visibly gulped. All the others gave Alya a little bit of space.

Adrien heard the buzzing of someone's cell. He saw Marinette pull her phone out of her pocket, at first with a questionable look on her face, but then it changed to a small smile and she giggled.

Alya quirked a brow and threw her arm over Mari's shoulder. "Oooo, who are you talking to?"

Marinette rolled her eyes and said, "Just Nathanaël. Remember that party I told you about? We were just making some final plans."

"What party? Do you happen to need a DJ?" Nino asked with a grin. Alya narrowed her eyes at him, but it didn't deter the guy.

"We weren't sure about the music yet," Marinette admitted, "but I'm sure a DJ would be a lot cooler than just the radio or someone's Ipod." She glanced between the two guys. "You know, you're both more than welcome to come just as guests too."

"Who all is going?" Adrien asked.

Mari looked askance. "Ah, well, it's kind of just been thrown together. We haven't invited anyone else, really." She looked around the room. "There's Nathanaël, of course, and his new friend…Matthieu. Alya and Charlene, too. We'll be inviting more people from Dupont. It's a college send-off party."

Adrien nodded when she decided to take a breath. "That will be fun! I wonder what colleges everyone will be going to."

"Speaking of which," Alya spoke up, "you said _new apartment_. You aren't living at home with your dad or on campus?"

"Right, you did say that!" Marinette piped up, looking extremely curious. "You really got your own place? When did this happen?"

Suddenly, everyone was looking at Adrien. He scratched his head nervously. "Yeah, I decided it was time to get my own place. I live near here now, and school won't be that long of a commute."

"Are you still going to work as a model?" Marinette asked.

Adrien nodded, willing to answer any question of Mari's. "For now. I don't want to do that for the rest of my life."

"You're a model?" Charlene asked in surprise.

"Yep. I model for a lot of my father's new fashion lines."

"Who's your father?"

"Gabriel Agreste."

A loud gasp escaped Charlene's mouth. It shocked everyone because of how quiet she normally was. Suddenly, her nose bleed was gone. "Y-your father is Gabriel Agreste? _The_ Gabriel Agreste?" She couldn't keep the astonishment off of her face.

"Mhmm…" Adrien had a smile on his face, but it was more melancholy than he wished it was.

"Having a fashion designer as your pop isn't all that it's cracked up to be, Charlene," Nino piped up. "So few opportunities to spend on quality ti—ack!" Alya jabbed him in his ribcage.

"I don't believe that's your business to tell, Nino," she said harshly. Nino quietly apologized.

Adrien directed his attention back to Charlene and Marinette. "So, yeah, I'm living over here now. I'll be working and going to school."

"What is your major going to be?" Mari asked.

"I'm not exactly sure yet," Adrien confessed, crossing his arms in thought. "I'm considering something in business though."

Some other customers walked into the shop. Marinette plastered a smile on her face and went to greet them. Alya and Nino rejoined the conversation. "Will you be taking over your father's business then?" Alya asked.

Adrien's lips mashed into a tight, thin line. "No. I want nothing to do with it. Plus, I have no knowledge of fashion. There's no way I could carry on with his work."

Charlene questioned, "But, if you don't want anything to do with the business, then why are you modeling for your dad?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "I just need the work for right now. It's going to be temporary until I can find another job or save enough money to not work."

"Modeling probably pays well enough…" Nino bitterly muttered. Alya shot another icy glare at him. "What? As if he couldn't save a good chunk of change from just one photo shoot?"

"Your commentary is completely unwarranted, Nino!" Alya hissed at him. "He's trying to lead a more normal life like the rest of us, but you only seem to think about your own problems."

"My own problems?" Nino scoffed. "I don't think anyone else would be complaining about making that kind of money. And how have I been thinking only about my problems? I have been the most supportive to him throughout all of this!"

"A good friend wouldn't be making derisive comments about another friend's income or their personal choices."

"And a good friend would be honest and put things like that into perspective for their less informed and naïve friend—no offense, man."

Adrien had a blank but noticeably uncomfortable stare. He waved Nino off. "No, please, by all means…"

"You're too harsh about it, Nino," Alya scolded.

"He's my bro, Alya, there's a little bit of tough love between us guys that you ladies might not ever understand."

They kept bickering back and forth and the air in the little shop became thick with awkwardness and animosity. A few minutes passed by before Marinette, from behind the register, ordered the two of them outside. The customers that she was helping kept glancing at the group with worried looks.

The young couple apologized and headed out the door, leaving Adrien and Charlene to stand there, alone and befuddled.

Adrien's eyes bounced around the room, wondering if he should go save his friend, but something was telling him that he should keep out of that scene. He glanced back up at the register where Marinette was with the customers.

He thought that they were just about finish their purchase when the husband noticed a tart sitting in the display case. He asked if he could possibly sample the sweet when the wife whipped her head around to talk about his eating habits. Marinette couldn't do anything but wait out the couple's ensuing argument.

Adrien sighed. As much as he wanted to talk to Marinette alone, that wasn't going to happen any time soon. He looked to Charlene with a smile. "So, you're going to school with Marinette. You're studying fashion too, then?" He remembered that day in the park they were sharing their portfolios.

She blinked and then nodded shyly, playing with a lock of her hair. "Yes, I am. Although I'm not so certain about how far I'll get."

"You should have more confidence than that, especially if you're in fashion. It will definitely get you farther," he advised.

"You're right. Mari has said the same thing to me."

Adrien couldn't help the grin that played at his lips. His eyes wandered back to Mari who was still waiting on the couple.

It was so like her to be helpful and thoughtful of others, to encourage them to do their best and be honest with them. He would sometimes wonder if he could be that useful to others, just out of the kindness of his heart.

A thought occurred to him. He was the son of one of the hottest fashion designers in the industry—speaking matter-of-factly. Would it be so far-fetched for him to help out people like Charlene and Mari get into the business through his family connection?

Adrien looked down at the watch on his wrist—an expensive one at that. Jeez, Nino was right. He needed a more realistic perspective on life.

"Hey, Charlene," Adrien said, grabbing an unbloodied napkin laying nearby and a pen. "Would you mind giving my number to Marinette? I have to run."

The girl nodded. "Sure. What was it for?"

"Uh, for the details about that farewell party!" He handed her the napkin and started walking for the door. "And remember, send me that bill if you end up needing to buy new glasses." He gave her a playful wink and strode out of the shop.

* * *

He was the epitome of perfection. His hair. His smile. The warm look on his face and his tender touch. She thought she would melt when he outstretched that hand to her. Was it completely cliché and childish to think of him as _Prince Charming_?

Was it also too much to imagine herself as the stereotypical shy girl that eventually gets her happy ending with said _Prince Charming_?

Probably. But, oh God, that wink.

She couldn't help her immediate attraction to Adrien Agreste. And of course he would be the son of one of the best fashion designers in the industry. He was literally everything that she imagined her perfect match to be.

She looked down at the napkin in her hand, a small smile forming on her lips and a flush warming her cheeks.

Charlene was completely smitten with him.

"Oh my gosh," groaned Marinette. "I'm so glad that's done." After that bickering couple left earlier with their purchase, a group of young, loud high school students entered the bakery and demanded all of her attention.

The pitter-pattering of rain started outside and there was heavy overcast. "You've had quite a busy day, but I don't think many more customers will come in. Are you closing soon?" Charlene still had a smile on her face.

Marinette glanced at the clock on the wall. "Not for another two hours," she sighed. "Weren't you leaving earlier? You stayed longer than I thought you would."

"O-oh! I was!" she put a timid hand up to her lips. Her other hand was still clasped around the napkin with Adrien's number on it. Charlene breathed in nervously.

She asked, "Marinette…that Adrien guy…do you know him well?"

"Do I know him well?" she scoffed. "I probably know—" she stopped short. "Erm, I probably know him as well as any other classmate of his from Dupont." She laughed. "Why do you ask?"

Charlene noticed her fumble and quirked a brow. "Um, well, I'm just curious about him. It's interesting…he's the son of a high-profile fashion designer but went to a public school with everyone else. You know, instead of being homeschooled. He doesn't come off as that arrogant type though."

Marinette smiled. "You're right. He's surprisingly kind and thoughtful of everyone else. And he's _really_ smart." She placed her chin in her hands and propped her elbows on the counter. "Definitely not the stereotypical model type."

Charlene approached close to the counter and blinked at her friend. "That's quite the admiration you have for him."

Mari stiffened. She immediately jumped back. "Ahaha, what? No, not at all!" She pursed her lips, not really saying more about the remark.

Charlene's chest suddenly felt hollow. "You like him too, don't you?"

Mari looked at Charlene with a bit of surprise. "Too? You like him? Just like that?" Marinette paused. "Well, I guess a lot of girls would immediately start crushing on him by looks alone," she conceded.

Charlene shook her head shyly. "No, you were right before. He's really nice and polite. I can only imagine how long you've liked him."

It was Mari's turn to blush. Her cheeks turned tomato red and she opened her mouth to say something, and then immediately closed it. She looked down at the register. "So it's that obvious, huh?"

"Not at first. Just when someone points it out," Charlene giggled.

 _Well, isn't that a relief. I've improved,_ Marinette thought to herself sarcastically.

Marinette looked her friend in the eyes. "Is this going to be a problem for us, Charlene?" She didn't ask it in a threatening way. She was honestly concerned that both of them liking Adrien would hurt their new friendship.

Charlene shook her head. "No. It would be my luck that I would like the same guy my friend does. But I'm definitely not as invested as you. Please don't mind me."

"But, Charlene—"

"No," she insisted. "Please don't give me that pitiable look. I like you and don't want to ruin a friendship over a guy."

Marinette looked doubtfully at her. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Charlene took a second to breathe in deeply. "I should really go now. I'm still packing for uni." She started to walk away.

"Ugh, don't even get me started," Mari said, following behind her. She grabbed an umbrella as she walked Charlene to the shop entrance. "I think I've packed, like, two boxes. Here, take this. The rain looks like it's only going to get worse."

Charlene took it gratefully and bid farewell to her friend, walking out of the shop and down the street.

Just as Mari said, the rain quickly turned from a drizzle to a downpour, casting a gloomy atmosphere around the girl as she trudged down the road. It definitely didn't help to lift her spirits. It made her feel like a sad girl in a music video.

How interesting it was that she would begin to crush on someone that easily just to get her hopes crushed in the next second. She didn't even get the chance to bask in the new feeling. The hollowness in her chest intensified.

She had always had that kind of luck growing up. She was klutzy, things of hers got broken a lot, opportunities in life always seemed to pass her over, not many people were willing to be friends with the timid girl. And whatever guy she liked never seemed to like her back.

Of course now she would like the same guy her new friend likes. In her mind, she was looking at sticking her neck out there and trying to pursuing her feelings, thus losing a new friend, or keeping her friendship and losing her opportunity to get to know the guy she could only dream about.

If her previous luck was indicative of anything, it was that in either scenario, it was unlikely either of those relationships would last anyways. She was feeling pretty hopeless at this point.

The edge of the umbrella bumped into something, causing Charlene to stumble back, trip over a crack in the sidewalk, and fall back into a puddle. She looked up at what was blocking her path.

It was a large poster board with Adrien Agreste plastered onto it.

Tears welled in Charlene's eyes and her chest tightened. Instead of letting out a sob, she curled in on herself and cried silently.

" _My dear girl, what would you do if I told you I could turn your luck around?"_

Charlene looked up, her eyes darkened. She didn't speak, but she listened.

" _My name is Hawk Moth, and I have a proposition for you. You'll never have to worry about missed opportunities or bad luck again if you heed my words. All I ask is for a small favor in return."_

"Yes, Hawk Moth," Charlene answered ominously, being enveloped by a dark mass.

* * *

"Alya, would you stop walking away for one second?" Nino called after his girlfriend, hot on her heels.

They had made it pretty far away from the bakery now. It was pouring rain and they were being soaked. This would make a nice scene in a romantic comedy if any of this was remotely funny.

Alya was trying to get home, but she had been ignoring him for a while now, and Nino wasn't about to let anything go when she was right there in front of him.

She groaned and whipped around. "What more do we have to talk about? You and I clearly aren't seeing eye-to-eye on anything right now—not school, not our free time, heck, not even Adrien! If all we're going to do is argue, then I don't want to talk to you right now."

"That's your problem. You've been ignoring me again like you did before when you would get upset," Nino pointed out. "We can't resolve anything when you don't acknowledge there's an issue."

Alya grit her teeth. She was pissed at him still, but he couldn't argue that point with him. They had some issues in the past involving her ignoring him when she was upset. It almost caused them to break up on more than one occasion.

But, hey, she was working on it.

She breathed in and out deeply. "Alright. What do you want to discuss first?" There was still venom in her tone of voice.

Nino held his ground, grateful that she could still see reason. "School. That was what started this whole argument, wasn't it?"

"I believe it was about how we would be spending our free time…"

Nino frowned in exasperation. "Fine. It was about how we would spend our free time while at school. It's not that I don't trust you around other people, Alya. It's just that…I worry about how close we are, or, really, how far apart we might become…"

He was struggling for the right words. He rubbed his jaw with one hand as he tried to think through it. "I…don't want adulthood…to change our relationship." He looked Alya in the eyes for any sort of signal. She didn't give one.

Nino started to worry. He gulped. After years of trying to learn how to convey his true feelings like this, he still wasn't very good at it. "I don't want our time apart…to affect your feelings for me." Alya's brows furrowed. "Like maybe you'll have some sort of epiphany that I'm not good enough for you anymore."

Alya's eyebrows rose, and then her expression quickly changed to that of confusion or maybe relief. Either way, she closed her eyes and sighed. "Nino. Why didn't you say that from the start?"

She walked up to him, shoes squeaking from being soaking wet, and placed a hand on his. "You know, it's okay to show a little insecurity to me. It doesn't make you any less of a man for doing so. I thought this whole thing was about you being jealous."

"I am a little bit, to be honest. But, more for the fact that other guys will be able to see you in class and I can't anymore. They'll want to monopolize your time." He tugged her hand to pull her close and encircled her with his other arm. "I'm going to miss you."

Alya rolled her eyes, but smiled. "You're so sappy sometimes."

Nino leaned his head down so that they were nose to nose. "Only 'cause you make me that way."

They were about to kiss when a force hit Alya from behind. It knocked the couple onto the ground. Nino held Alya close and looked up to see a girl in a green and gold dress. Her skin was also green and gold, but split down the middle. She had a baton in her hand that was pointed directly at Alya's backside.

Nino gasped. "An akuma!" He anxiously glanced down. "Alya, we need to move." She sat motionless in his arms and he begun to panic. "Alya! Wake up, we need to—"

A slap across his cheek shut him up.

"What the…?" Alya had been the one that hit him. Nino eyes widened when she looked up at him with luminescent green irises.

A smug laugh came from the akumatized girl. "Looks like your luck just ran out."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Now for that surprise! I have sketches of all of my original characters! :D I know this might not be exciting for some of you, and some of you might be thinking, _"Why did she waste her time drawing when she could have been writing?!"_ Well, truthfully, I have been in a funk for personal reasons, and all of these drawings helped me crank out this chapter in three days. I can't post a link to them, but all of these sketches are on DeviantArt. My username on DeviantArt is tayram. I have a whole folder (entitled "Vanish") dedicated to this fanfiction for you to look at character sketches.**

 **You'll notice in the "UPDATE" sections of the previous chapters, I've already listed character names with asterisks* to indicate that there is a sketch of the character.**

 **Comments? Suggestions? Reviews? Please let me know them! It definitely motivates me when I read them! Thank you again for being patient with me and reading my story! Love you all 3**

 **-Ram 7/7/2016**


	6. Rescue at Nightmares

**A/N:**

 **I'm only a day late for the scheduled update this time! :D**

 **I was asked previously what the heck this story is supposed to be about. Truthfully, I don't know myself ahaha. But I guess I should say something. This story is supposed to be about Marinette and Adrien growing into their adulthood and discovering who they are and what they want. There are certain events that I know will take place in the plot, such as the summary for this story. But, really, I'm just letting it take form as it goes.**

 **So, please, read on and enjoy! _Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or its characters, only the plot of this work._**

* * *

Chapter 6. Rescue at Nightmares

Marinette pulled up a stool and sat behind the register pondering what had just happened. It wasn't like she hadn't come across other girls that liked Adrien before. And usually she would get extremely investigative about things like that. Take Lila for example. It was borderline obsessive and she knew it.

However, this time it was different. Her friend liked Adrien and she wasn't sure how she should handle it. Charlene said not to mind her, but how could she not?

Charlene had only _just_ met him, but sometimes that didn't matter—love at first site and all that. Who was Marinette to tell Charlene not to like him? Mari would never do that, anyways. But she and Charlene were friends for only a short while. It would probably be very easy for them to walk away from each other. But she couldn't see the shy girl doing something like that.

So was Charlene supposed to ignore her feelings for the sake of their friendship? Mari knew doing that would be torture. She had tried that herself.

Marinette groaned and placed her forehead on the counter.

Tikki floated out from under the counter. There weren't any customers in the shop so they wouldn't need to worry about her being out in the open.

"Marinette," Tikki said, worried. "You're thinking about Charlene, aren't you? Do you have any idea what you're going to do?"

Marinette tried shaking her head, but it just rolled back and forth on the counter, like an egg. "I don't know, Tikki. I've been going through so many scenarios in my head of what I could to say to her to make it better."

"Maybe it's better if you don't say anything," Tikki suggested. "Words can't just make feelings like that go away. You know that first hand."

Mari sighed. "You're right, I do."

Her phone buzzed on the counter in front of her head. She looked up to see the notification was from Matthieu. She picked up her phone and opened the message.

 _?_

Marinette snorted in frustration. "That's _it_? Why do you have to be such a—"

Her phone started ringing in her hand. Marinette confusedly stared at it. Matthieu was calling. He couldn't have at least waited until she texted back?

Tikki watched her as she answered the phone. "Um, hello?"

"Hey there," came a low-toned voice. Were they really the same age? Puberty did some wonders on his vocals.

"…Hi," she greeted again, but with some hesitation. "Was there something that you needed?"

"Well, you were taking a while to reply, so I thought I'd just ask you directly." She could almost hear the smile on his face. "I was wondering if you would be available for lunch tomorrow. We could make it a group outing."

"I…don't know yet," Mari said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. A group outing. Could he be planning something? "Was it just going to be the three of us?"

"Hmm…it could be. Or you could invite one of your friends. It doesn't really matter to us."

Marinette frowned in thought. Alya would normally be her first choice in a situation like this, but she was having issues with Nino at the moment. She really didn't want to get in the middle of that.

Not to mention that Nino would probably have a heart attack if he knew Alya was going out for lunch with guys.

She could ask Charlene, but she would need to do some convincing, especially after she confessed that she had feelings for Adrien. It would probably do her some good to go out and meet people though.

Otherwise, she didn't know anyone well enough to feel comfortable bringing them out for lunch.

"I'll…get back to you on that. I need to see who's available," Marinette said.

"Okay…" Matthieu slowly replied. "Well, we were thinking about doing a late lunch at Dame Tartine. Does one o'clock sound good to you?"

"Yeah, that sounds fine."

There was some silence for a few seconds, then some background noise.

"Okay then!" Came Matthieu's voice, a little rushed. "I've got to go, but Nathanaël will text you. See you tomorrow." He hung up before Marinette could answer. She gripped her phone in frustration. He kept speaking for Nathan and it was really starting to make her mad.

She held her phone out in front of her and started looking through her contacts. Tikki floated up to her. "Marinette, are you sure going out to lunch with Matthieu is a good idea? You really don't seem to like him."

Marinette scrolled down the list of names in her phone. Once she found Charlene's number, she paused to look at Tikki. "I really have no solid reason to dislike him besides how he speaks for Nathan. That just gives me a funny feeling."

She selected Charlene's name and it pulled up her details.

"But, Marinette," Tikki interrupted her, flying in front of the screen of her phone. "You should trust your instincts more!"

"Trust my instincts?"

"Yes! That feeling in your gut that tells you that something is wrong. You need to be cautious around that guy, Marinette. I can tell he's up to something," warned Tikki.

Marinette looked at her kwami with some consideration. "Alright. I can't jump the gun and accuse him of something without reason. But I'll make sure to keep my guard up around him."

Tikki moved out of the way so Mari could press the call button. She could her the other line ringing, but eventually she got her voicemail. This made Marinette worry. Maybe she was still upset about the whole Adrien thing.

Mari scratched her head in frustration. She liked Adrien too! What was she supposed to do? Back down? No. This wasn't sort of competition with her new friend. But it's not like her feelings had an on and off switch. She couldn't just change the fact that she liked Adrien overnight.

Then again, neither could Charlene. She seemed already quite attached.

Mari heard the ringing of the bell at the front of the shop and her parents stepped through the threshold, soaking wet.

"If we could just get a few more hands, I'm sure you could run the other shop just fine, dear," said Sabine, Marinette's mother. She looked down at her clothes in concern. "Oh my goodness! We're going to get the floors dirty!"

Tom, Marinette's father, quickly shrugged off his sweater he threw on earlier, however, his blue t-shirt was just as wet. He gave the sweater to his wife as she hurried to the back to hang them. "I know, but I'm just so nervous about this new bakery. You know what they say about businesses. It's all about location!"

Tom and Sabine's bakery had been doing well the last few years, so they decided to expand their business by opening a new location across town. The new shop would require all of Tom's skills, since he needed to impress the patrons of the area with his baking.

Luckily, he had taught Sabine enough that she could run this shop and make the ordinary pastries with little to no guidance from her husband. But, with the new location, more customers, and the fact that Marinette was leaving for college, they were really short-handed.

Tom tried to inconspicuously glance at his daughter. "Oh no! What will we _do_ about this?" He flopped over the counter in mock distress.

Marinette giggled and rolled her eyes. "I have no idea, Father. What ever _will_ you do?" She feigned and flopped herself over her dad.

"Oh, but Mari, the new bakery is right near your campus. Won't you come help your poor dad out?" Tom sniffled.

"I can't, Dad," she sighed. "I have to try to do something in my field, or I may graduate jobless."

"Tom Dupain. Are you giving her a hard time about not working for us?" Sabine walked into the front of the shop in time to hear her husband's plea. "It's wonderful that Marinette is searching for other opportunities. Don't make her feel bad about it." She then went to work cleaning up the back stock area of the bakery.

Mari and Tom both leaned back from the counter and gave Sabine the same exasperated face. Tom put a hand on Mari's shoulder and she looked up at him. "Sweet heart, you know that I want you to do what makes you happy. I'm just…going to miss you a lot. Especially in the bakery." He gestured to the store around them, which was void of other people.

Until Nino came crashing through the door, slamming it behind him and leaning against it to hold it closed. Mari and Tom had jumped at his brash entrance.

"Nino!" Marinette exclaimed running to him. "What are you—"

"Marinette! Hurry and lock the door!" Nino was shaking and breathing heavily.

"What happened?" She turned around briefly to her dad who quickly ran off to get the keys to the shop.

Nino grasped her arm in urgency. "It's Alya! There was this ghoulish-looking girl—well half of her—and she used this wand to zap Alya—and—and then Alya just started chasing me like she wanted to _kill_ me!" He yanked Mari closer. "You've _gotta_ help me!"

A loud bang reverberated through the glass door. They both looked up to see a crazed Alya, hair tousled about, eyes glowing green, and one of the nastiest snarls curling her lips.

Nino shrieked like a small child. It even frightened Marinette.

"Nino!" Alya growled through the glass, pounding on it. She didn't give them another chance to react as she backed up.

Marinette gasped. "Nino, run!" She grabbed him and yanked him to his feet as Alya sprinted to the door, intending to ram right into them with it. She and Nino were running straight to the back just as Tom was returning with the shop keys.

"Too late!" Mari pushed her dad back, Alya coming in hot on their heels. On their way back, they grabbed Sabine and looked for a place to hide or escape. They found their exit into the residential living and locked the door behind them. They could hear Alya race up and giggle the handle before quickly giving up and running away.

What the hell was wrong with Alya? Of course she had been affected by an akuma, but what exactly was the power doing to her?

"Mom, Dad, I know you're not going to like what I have to say, but go to the apartment and call 112. I have to find out what's wrong with Alya."

Tom and Sabine turned to look at their daughter with shock and worry. "Of course we don't like that!" her mom said. "We are not letting you go so you can deal with some deranged girl!"

"She's not just some deranged girl, Mom," replied Mari. "It's Alya, my friend. We have to help her. Now, please, go call 112. Just in case."

Tom and Sabine were about to argue with her again until she unlocked the door and took off back to the shop without Nino.

"Ah—hey! Why are you leaving me here?" He chased after her.

"Nino! Go back!" she yelled back without stopping.

"No! Alya is my girlfriend! I can't do nothing!"

Mari ground her teeth in frustration. She needed to transform into Ladybug quickly. The reason she told her mom to call the emergency number was because akuma attacks have been getting stronger over the years.

She was hoping she was wrong, but if Alya was chasing Nino down like she was going to kill him, she might have to take it literally. She couldn't have Nino running around with the potential of getting hurt like last time. But she knew she wouldn't be able to stop him even if she tried.

The lights were all out in the back of the shop, which they weren't before. Mari slowed down to a walk with Nino right at her side. She whispered to him, "What happened when that ghoulish girl attacked? What did she look like? Did she have a name?"

Nino glanced around, jumping at the sight of every dark mass, assuming it was the unstable Alya. "Well, only half of her was like that. It was like she was split down the middle, and each side was the inverse of the other—Two-Face style."

They crept around a corner that looked into the small kitchen, just large enough for a few ovens for their pastries. No one was in there.

Nino and Mari could feel and hear their hearts pounding away in their chests, their senses on high alert.

"That definitely sounds like a villain to me," Mari murmured to her friend. "Did you say she had a name? Any of those catch phrases?"

"I think she called herself Charmer*. And she said to me 'Your luck just ran out,' or something just as creepy."

Luck. Running out of luck. Mari could have kicked herself in the ass. Of course it must have been Charlene. She was saying all day how she had the worst luck ever and she was upset about Adrien and she hadn't answered her phone earlier. Hawk Moth must have akumatized her after she left the shop. But then what was she doing right now?

They tip-toed into the storefront now. The lights were shut off there too, and the rain was still coming down outside although it seemed to have lightened, moving away from the bakery.

Marinette held her hand out in front of Nino for him to stay put and then lifted a finger to her lips to tell him to be quiet. He nodded in compliance. She slowly stepped onto the shop floor and tip-toed her way to the front door. She glanced outside into the near vicinity without seeing anyone.

She took a chance and opened the front door. Mari had forgotten the bell at the top and it chimed, making her freeze in place. Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw Nino was still in the same spot behind the register counter, unharmed and watching.

Marinette breathed out and opened the door a bit to poke her head out. Her eyes wandered up and down the street, but there was no sign of Alya anywhere, and all she could hear was the pitter-pattering of the rain.

Then a frightened shout came from behind her, followed by the crashing of glass.

Instantly, Marinette whipped her head back to see Alya wielding an icing spatula at Nino. A shattered glass jar with pastries were scattered onto the floor.

"Alya, stop!" Marinette yelled, charging her friend.

The possessed girl didn't hesitate to slash at her with the utensil, barely missing as Marinette slid out of the way. Instead, it clanged against the counter top as their scuffle began in the narrow space. She was swinging hard enough to take out a chunk of flesh.

Alya recovered and made for another swing at Marinette. She yelped as she ducked. Alya hit the opposite counter top this time, making everything clatter and fall to the floor. Nino took that moment to grab the arm that was holding the spatula, and then Marinette quickly stood and pinned her other arm back against the counter.

Alya growled and struggled against their hold on her. Her irises were bright green and glowing in the dark room.

"Alya, please," Nino began to plead. "We don't want to fight you."

Alya thrashed her head around, screaming unintelligible things and trying to throw them off of her.

"The effect of that girl is too strong," Marinette said. "I don't think anything we say will get through." She began to think. They couldn't do anything to bring Alya back from her bout of insanity without knowing how the akuma's power is using or affecting her. Their best bet for the moment was to somehow hold her here at the shop while she transformed into Ladybug to go after this Charmer girl.

"Hold her here, Nino!" Mari commanded and ran off into the back of the shop.

"Wait—" Alya swung her free fist at Nino's face. He quickly snatched it in midair and managed to wrestle her onto the ground, pinning her there so her face was against the linoleum. "Hurry up, Mari!" He sat on her and held her hands behind her back.

Alya was still growling at him and trying to break free from his grasp. Nino hoped and prayed that she would forget about him doing this to her. Otherwise she'd bite his head off once she was back to normal.

Mari came racing from around the back with packing tape in hand. Without a moment of hesitation, she ripped the tape from the roll and began wrapping it around Alya's wrists and then went to her ankles to bind them.

The tied up girl writhed on the floor, trying in vain to break loose.

Marinette and Nino stood over Alya, panting and feeling exhausted. But there wasn't any time for Mari to rest. She had to go find Charmer before more people were affected by her strange power. She grabbed Nino's wrist and placed the tape in his hand.

"You watch her. If she starts to get loose, tie her back up," she instructed him. "I'm going to go see if I can find that Charmer.

Nino said, "But what do _you_ plan to do if you find her? Shouldn't we wait for Ladybug and Cat Noir?" He kept pace behind her as she went to the shop entrance.

"We can't just wait if we're going to help Alya. I'm going to see if there are other people under whatever spell or power this is. Maybe I can find an answer through them."

Nino placed a hand on her shoulder. "But it's dangerous out there. Especially if any of them are as violent as Alya is. It would probably be better if I went."

 _Somehow, I doubt that,_ Mari thought. "But if Alya does break loose, I'm not strong enough to handle her. Plus, she's _your_ girlfriend. _Your_ responsibility."

Nino's jaw snapped shut. He really couldn't argue that point. He was too far into the relationship to deny it.

Mari shook off his hand. "I'll be fine. Take care of her for me, will ya?"

* * *

Adrien ran straight back to his apartment as the rain plummeted down on him. It seemed like the shower was moving his way.

But he didn't let the weather bring him down. Oh, no. He had this large, stupid grin spread from ear to ear. There was a real possibility that he could do more for others than model men's clothing. Granted, the only thing Adrien provided was a way around the HR wall at his dad's business. By maybe at this point in his life this was all that he could do.

He wished that, someday, he could contribute more to the lives of those he cared about.

There was an overhang at the top of the apartment complex and once he reached the safety of it, he took a breather, trying to wipe off some of the larger water drops from his face. He also shook his hair dry, more like a dog than a cat.

Plagg flew out of Adrien's shirt and shook himself dry as well. "Well, that didn't go as planned."

Adrien quirked a brow at his kwami as he rung out his shirt. "What do you mean? I thought it went pretty well."

"What are you talking about? You totally chickened out. You didn't stay long enough to even talk to her. You gave your number to some other chick."

Adrien frowned. That was true. It was his goal to talk to Marinette herself. "Yeah, but then there was Nino and Alya and Charlene. And customers. How was I supposed to talk to her in front of all of them?"

Plagg started sniffing around, looking for something. "You grow a pair."

Adrien snorted. "You're not very subtle, are you?"

"Nope. Not in my vocabulary. And how could you talk to a girl like that? I did not see one pastry in there with my favorite cheese."

"No one sells smelly Camembert pastries, Plagg," Adrien said, rolling his eyes.

Just as they were about to enter the building, a soft voice came from behind them. "Today must be my lucky day."

Adrien's hand froze on the door handle as he looked behind him to see who it was. Plagg retreated back into Adrien's shirt before he could be spotted.

There stood a girl in a dress. She was literally colored in halves. One side of her looked poor and disheveled, her skin was a shade of gold, and her hair and eyes a dark green. The dress was tattered and the sleeve was torn off. Her foot was bare of any shoes.

The other side of her looked neat and primmed, her hair and eyes were that same gold, and her skin was dark green. Her dress had its full sleeve and was hemmed with frills, like it was brand new. There was a delicate slipper on her foot. In her hands she held this baton, also split down the center so that one side was gold and the other was green.

"I managed to find you so quickly," she said. "I thought it would take a while with how big the city is. But you did say you lived so close by."

Adrien couldn't move as he listened to her. His chest swelled with that burst of adrenaline and anxiety that came with being faced with impending danger. It was obvious that she was akumatized. He had just moved here. How could anyone know where he lives besides Nino?

"I'm sorry, what was your name?" Adrien asked nonchalantly, handling his nerves surprisingly well. "You don't look familiar."

"I wouldn't be surprised," she said with a slight smile and walked up to him. "My name's Charmer."

Adrien was careful not to move too suddenly, but he let go of the door knob to fully face her with his own smile. "Charmer. I, uh, can't say I'm too familiar with that name of yours either. How do you know me? Or that I live over here?"

Charmer's brows furrowed and her lips puckered into a pout. "I said it before, you told me that you live over here."

"Well, you see, I just moved and I only told some exclusive—"

"You also gave me your number," Charmer said pointedly. She lifted her hand to reveal a scrunched napkin which had darkened considerably in color.

Realization dawned on him. "Oh! Charlene! How could I forget about you? Of course I told you about that." He laughed a bit nervously.

Charlene frowned at him. "You…forgot about me?"

Adrien thought he was building up a sweat, knowing that this conversation was going south really fast. But he couldn't transform into Cat Noir right in front of her. The muscles in his legs tightened, preparing to make a run for it if he could.

"How could you forget about me?" She questioned in anger and clenched her fists. "You just saw me like a half hour ago! Am I really so insignificant—" she started jamming her finger into his chest "—that people forget about me right after they look at me? Am I really that unfortunate? That unlucky?"

She turned on her heel and stomped a few paces away from him. Adrien called, "Wait, Charlene. I think that it's just a misunderstand—"

"It's Charmer!" She shouted back at him. "Maybe you'll remember me better if you had a little bad luck yourself!" She pointed the gold end of her baton at the apartment building and a flash of bright light beamed at it.

The bricks of the building seemed to lose their color and cracked. Adrien watched as the bricks rapidly began to crumble from the complex and smashed into the puddles on the ground. He stood there, not knowing what to do. As Cat Noir, he only had his Cataclysm and baton. Neither of those could stop a whole structure from collapsing.

Charmer wordlessly ran away from the site as the building lost its integrity and was about to give way to gravity. Adrien didn't have a choice but to run back into the rain and away from the building. He turned back to watch as the lower part of the structure began to tremor.

At that very spot, a man in a white suit appeared. While standing in the rain, Adrien barely had a chance to look at him before the man put his hands against the side of the building. A light blue energy rippled from his hands and traveled throughout the structure. The bricks regained their original color and the cracking of the building and foundation stopped. In fact, it completely reversed. In a matter of seconds, the entire apartment complex regained its former state, nice and sturdy.

Adrien's eyes widened in disbelief. "What in the…?" He looked back at the man in the white suit. It was still hard to see him in the downpour, however he could make out some ears and a tail.

The man briefly glanced over his shoulder at Adrien, but his helmet-like mask hid the upper half of his face and most of his dark hair. Before Adrien could make a move, the man in the suit sprang away in the same direction as Charmer.

 _What in the world just happened?_ Mouth agape, Adrien looked at his new home again. Was that another akumatized person? But then why would he reverse Charmer's power?

"No more time to waste," Adrien said, quickly taking cover somewhere nearby. He flashed his silver ring. "Plagg, claws out!"

Once he was Cat Noir, he took to the rooftops. As he traveled further into the city, the rain lighted to the point that it was just a drizzle. Left and right he could see the wake of destruction that Charmer was causing. Not only were there destroyed structures, but there were people running around, full of anger and fury.

He happened to spot a few well-known citizens that had some money and power in the city, but now they looked tattered or their homes or cars were destroyed. So it seemed that Charmer was taking away any sort of luck that they had.

He thought maybe she was pulling a Robin Hood by taking the luck of those with it and distributing it to those without, but he also noticed some homeless persons along the way, with no better luck than before. Maybe she didn't notice them. Cat Noir started to think this wasn't the case when he passed notably decrepit homes and shelters that could obviously use some good fortune right now.

But they didn't seem to be receiving any sort of special treatment from Charmer.

Ladybug's yo-yo spun around the chimney on the rooftop Cat just arrived on. He paused and waited for her to join him. She landed right in front of him in a sort of mystical whirlwind that only existed in his mind. He couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. "Well, if it isn't my Lady. Did you come to bring me good fortune?" He took her hand in his and kissed it.

She rolled her eyes, gently pulled it back, and place her hands on her hips. "Tough luck, kitty. I'm off my game today."

Cat cocked his head to the side curiously. "What do you mean?"

She frowned. "I'm pretty sure I'm the reason for this akuma attack."

Cat tried to keep the confusion off of his face. Charmer came looking for Adrien earlier, and then he made her mad. He was pretty sure he must have been somehow involved with this before Charlene became akumatized. Something must have happened after he left the bakery.

"But that's a discussion for later," Ladybug said. "We need to find Charmer. Have you gotten any leads on her goals or her abilities?"

Cat scratched his head. "I don't know where she's going, but she keeps talking about luck. I've been seeing that she takes good fortune from others."

"Does she give it to others then?"

He shook his head. "Not from what I've seen so far. I think that she might just be collecting it for herself." A thought came to mind. "Have you happened to see a man in a white suit?"

Ladybug made a face. "Um, no. A friend of yours?"

"No, earlier he—"

A ground-shaking rumble came from somewhere nearby. He noticed that they were actually pretty close to the Agreste mansion.

He and Ladybug scanned the nearby area for visual indicators. It wasn't very long before there was more rumbling and a tall building started to crumble. Immediately, the super duo sprinted across the rooftops toward the building.

On their way, they could see a blue energy rippling through the building, restoring it to normal. Cat could hear a gasp from his partner. It looked like their new friend was already there.

They made it to the ledge of the last rooftop and jumped down onto the scene into their battle stances. Near the skirmish, Parisians were trembling behind things like cars and trees; a few were brave enough to peek their phones out to snap photos and capture videos of the chaos.

Out in the open, Charmer was using her baton with the gold end pointed directly at the man in the white suit. There was only an overcast now, and Cat could see the man clearly this time.

It was a white cat suit, except that it had black stripes down his limbs and tail. He did wear something like a helmet with ears that were black, but more rounded than Cat Noir's ears. The helmet mimicked a wide cheek mane and it only covered the upper half of his face and showed some dark hair sticking out behind his neck. His eyes were colored blue, much like how Cat's mask made his green.

He looked exactly like a white Siberian tiger.

The tiger-man advanced against Charmer, dodging the gold spurts of light from her baton. He repeatedly slashed at her with retractable claws, trying to land a good hit on her. She kept knocking his hands away with her baton, but he was always quick to recoil and go for another slash at her.

"Um," Laybug started. "Is he on our side?" she asked Cat Noir.

"Beats me," he replied with a shrug. "But I know what object the akuma's hiding in."

Ladybug's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah? Tell me where."

Cat pointed at one of Charmer's fists. "There. She's got a bunched up napkin in her hand."

"Alright, let's go!" Ladybug and Cat Noir charged into the fray, each taking a turn trying to hit her with either a yo-yo or baton.

As a team, they were well rehearsed and could move in perfect harmony. However, the added person fighting the villain threw off their rhythm. Whenever Cat tried to go in for a strike, this tiger kept aiming for the same spots. It put both of them at risk of getting struck by Charmer.

At one point, they both pounced away from her and eyed each other in frustration.

The white cat reached behind himself. He was wearing a black belt around his waist and on the back, there was a silver hilt somehow attached. Cat and Ladybug watched in awe as the man unsheathed an urumi**, which had been hidden within his belt.

The man began to whip it around in circles, and as he did it grew in length. He lashed it at Charmer, who was obviously in a panic and tried to use her baton as defense, but the metal of the sword whip flexed around her weapon and struck her, leaving a deep cut into her arm. She shrieked in pain and clasped a hand over her bleeding limb.

Ladybug and Cat Noir had watched the whole thing in horror, their faces in complete shock.

The white-suited man tugged back his urumi and was about to go for another lash when Cat extended his own baton and made the metal wrap around it.

"What are you doing?" Cat shouted. "She's still a civilian! We're not supposed to cause serious injury!"

The man just stared blankly as their arms and hands quivered in resistance to each other. Finally, the man smirked. "You've got the gift of destruction, yet you aren't ready to do a little damage?"

Cat was taken aback by the remark. He grit his teeth in anger. "Ladybug!" he called out to her. "Do your thing! I've got this." He made a move to use his baton to shove the white cat and his urumi away from Charmer, then they started fighting one another.

Ladybug had started at his unusually aggressive tone. "Right. Lucky Charm!" She threw her yo-yo up into the air, and from the bright light generated fell a hair brush. It landed in her hand and she quickly looked around so she could formulate her plan.

Charmer managed to stand up straight in her own battle stance with a furious expression on her face.

"Cat Noir! Behind you!" Ladybug warned.

He dodged a swipe from the white-clad man in time to notice Charmer. He extended his baton just as she was about to hit them with a gold beam, which deflected it up and into the air. The other man whipped his urumi at the akumatized girl.

"Wait!" Cat shouted.

The metal of the weapon just wrapped around the baton so Charmer couldn't move it anymore. Cat glowered at the other feline, who just grinned smugly.

Ladybug tied the end of her yo-yo around the handle of the brush and twirled it around. She threw it with all of her strength around a faraway lamppost. It swung back around straight at Charmer. The bristles got caught in the tangles of her disheveled hair. Ladybug grimaced as she tugged her end of the yo-yo, knowing it was going to hurt.

Charmer yelped as her head was tugged in the opposite direction of her arm holding the baton.

"Cat! The napkin!" Ladybug said.

Cat Noir was fast to run up to their akumatized friend, whose face was warped in pain. He frowned as he took the napkin from her clenched fist and ripped it apart. The akuma was released and flew into the air and Charmer transformed back into the Charlene that they knew. The hairbrush fell out of her hair.

Ladybug sighed in relief, beginning to retract the yo-yo. "Good, now for that little akuma."

Before Ladybug could get her yo-yo back into her hand, the white cat sprung into the air and caught the butterfly in one paw.

"Hey!" Cat Noir hollered.

The white cat landed lithely on the balls of his feet. He looked over to Ladybug and Cat Noir and winked. "Better luck next time," he said before running off with the akuma in his hand.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I feel like I'm really terrible at writing suspense and action scenes, _which was all of this chapter_. So, please, if you have comments or suggestions to help my writing, I would really appreciate it!**

 **112- So, here in America, our emergency number for police, fire, and medical is 911 and I tried to find if France had a similar number and found 112 on Google. If this is wrong and you can correct me, please do! I try to keep authenticity in my writing.**

 **Dame Tartine- I actually found this cafe on Google Maps! lol so it's a real place too.**

 ***Charmer- This character has a sketch on DeviantArt! My username on DeviantArt is tayram. I have a whole folder (entitled "Vanish") dedicated to this fanfiction for you to look at character sketches.**

 ****Urumi- "This ancient weapon was a flexible sword whip. Both sides of the flexible metal were sharpened and whipped in circles to create a defensive zone. They were considered dangerous for both the opponent and the wielder, and therefore, one would be regarded as highly skillful for using it. Parrying was almost useless, because even if the opponent tried to block it, the urumi would bend around the block to strike" (this information was also found using Google).**

 **I fixed some of the major grammar and spelling mistakes :D**

 **Please comment and review! Until next chapter! Wish me luck!**

 **-Ram 7/24/2016**


	7. Loss of Honor

**A/N:**

 **I realized that my author's notes were getting excessively long. Sorry about that! I'll try to keep them shorter! So, straight to the chapter!**

 ** _Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or its characters, only the plot of this work._**

* * *

Chapter 7. Loss of Honor

" _Parisians all over the internet are taking to social media, sharing these images and videos of our new mystery hero. But witnesses that were at the scene of the attack continue to speculate the relationship between this unidentified man and our beloved Ladybug and Cat Noir…"_

Ever since that guy showed up in his white suit, the internet and the news had been buzzing with rumors and theories. And of course there was the constant comparisons between him and Cat Noir. Memes of the two side-by-side had already started floating around, calling the new guy "Mr. Steal Your Girl".

People everywhere were already accepting this man as their newest superhero, here to save the day. If only they knew how lethal this cat really was—how he completely disregarded the safety of others and threatened them. Of course, witnesses that were there got the picture.

But maybe the biggest slap in the face was that the unknowing Parisians gave him a name, since he neglected to share it.

They were calling him _Chat Blanc_ , a play off the other hero's name.

And Cat Noir was visibly seething.

He sat on a rooftop overlooking the city lights and the Eiffel Tower which stood proudly in the night.

When _Chat Blanc*_ took off with the akuma, Cat Noir and Ladybug were going to go after him, except that Ladybug was about to detransform, and Charmer had reverted back to being Charlene and she still had the massive gash in her arm. They unfortunately had to let him go, but they agreed to meet tonight to talk about the whole ordeal.

Cat sat with his legs crossed at the ankles and his arms folded across his chest. A deep frown was set into his face as he was still angry and concerned with how today had turned out.

He heard the light footsteps of someone landing behind him. He didn't need to turn to know that it was Ladybug, as expected. She walked up next to him, but didn't say anything for a few moments.

He finally glanced at her. "Cat got your tongue?"

She snorted and made eye contact with him. "You wish you did." Ladybug sat down next to Cat with a sigh. "So…Chat Blanc then…"

Cat rolled his eyes and groaned. "No, not you too. He's obviously a tiger! If anything they should be calling him _Tigre_ Blanc, or something like that." The frown set back into his face as he pouted.

Ladybug raised a brow incredulously. "That's what you're upset about?"

Cat shook his head. "No, I'm—ugh, never mind that. What's really concerning me is the fact that he got ahold of the akuma before you could purify it."

Ladybug then frowned. "You're right," she agreed. "We didn't even get a chance to fight Charmer long enough to figure out how her powers work."

"He's got that rippling blue light that he uses when he touches things," Cat Noir noted. "I only saw him use it on the buildings that had crumbled, though."

"Buildings? As in plural? I only saw him use it on the one right before we got there."

"Right. He also used it on my apartment building. That's where I first saw him," Cat said.

"Oh so that's why you asked me about a man in the white suit." Ladybug put her hand to her chin in thought. A second later she looked at him with a bit of surprise. "I didn't know you lived in an apartment, Cat."

"Yeah, I finally got my own place," Cat stated proudly, sitting up straight with his hands on his hips. He waited to see if she would react the same way as Marinette. He eyed her expectantly.

"Well, look who's growing up." Ladybug smirked and crossed her arms. "Is that supposed to impress me?"

Cat's face deadpanned.

Her reply was much more enthusiastic as Marinette. Why was she so drastically different with him when he was Cat Noir? Maybe because she really didn't like him as the hero? Or maybe she was only being polite to Adrien?

Either way, he was finding it rather irritating.

"No, just thought I'd let you know in case you wanted to drop by for a visit sometime."

Ladybug giggled. "Sorry, Kitty. I don't take cat calls." She winked at him and then went back to her thinking pose.

If only she knew how much that innocent wink actually made his heart flutter. Or how in one moment he could be totally serious and in the next he would be trying to dazzle her, yet to no avail. He really was proud of the fact that he was moving forward in life, but talking with her sometimes brought him down from his high.

That thought upset him. He couldn't remember ever thinking about Ladybug like that.

He realized that she was talking to him. "Oh, uh, could you repeat that? I was thinking about something." He scratched his head sheepishly.

Ladybug sighed. "I was saying that maybe we could identify him somehow. He looked around your height, had a more muscular build, and had dark hair. I think it was brown or black."

"Well, you sure got a good look at him," Cat mumbled, but continued. "When we were fighting, I noticed the sclera of his eyes were blue. But I don't know if that says anything about his real eye color."

Ladybug stared at Cat for a moment. Cat looked back at her but shifted rather uncomfortably. "Um," he started, "what is it?"

"Are your eyes green?" she asked simply, keeping eye contact.

Cat wanted to lean in to give her a better look, but he fought the urge and stayed where he was. "Now if I told you that, wouldn't that be a clue to who I am?"

Ladybug mashed her lips together, and then she said, "There could be tons of guys with green eyes…" She lifted her hand to his wild hair and caught a lock between two fingers. "And blond hair. How could I ever guess which one is you? I couldn't just ask."

Cat stayed perfectly still, save for his chest moving with each breath. "You wouldn't want me to answer anyhow, right?"

Ladybug slowly removed her hand from his hair but continued to look into eyes. A moment later she closed hers and faced away from him with a sigh. "No, I suppose not."

Cat looked away from her too, back to the city streets bustling with night life. Suddenly, it felt really cold.

"I guess we can't go around pointing fingers at every blued-eyed, dark-haired man around the city," Cat Noir said. And he wasn't about to go around town peering into the eyes of every man he saw. Talk about awkward. "We'll just have to wait until this guy reveals himself again."

"I don't like the sound of that, but I don't think we really have a choice," Ladybug replied. "I think I'm more concerned about the akuma. What if Chat Blanc decides to release it and it multiplies, like what happened with Stoneheart? We'd be in some serious trouble, especially since we don't know the extent of the power."

"We'd have a whole army of unknowns to fight."

They sat there in silence as the dread set in.

"Well," Cat finally said, "we haven't fucked up this bad since the first time." He laughed a good belly laugh that eventually had Ladybug joining him. They each had tears in the corners of their eyes they had to wipe away.

Cat managed to calm down a bit and said to Ladybug, "Someone needs to keep a close eye on Charlene then."

Ladybug nodded in agreement and stood. "It'll be hard, but I think that I can do it. We might need to go on some more night patrols too, if that's possible."

Cat got up from his perch too. "I think I can manage it," he said with a wink. "You be careful out there, my Lady." He gently lifted her hand to his lips and lightly kissed it. He then turned on his heels and ran back home.

He barely heard the "You, too" calling after him.

* * *

The next day, Marinette went to Charlene's house to help her pack. After the attack yesterday, Ladybug managed to reverse the injury inflicted on Charlene's arm. It worried her that Chat Blanc was so willing to cause harm to civilians for the sake of capturing akuma.

It worried her even more knowing that the akuma can come back to haunt Charlene. It was fortunate that they would be going to school together and that they would be roommates. It gave her plenty of opportunity to watch Charlene and to look for any signs of Chat Blanc.

She didn't like the idea of just waiting for him to reappear, but she didn't have much to go on besides appearances. He didn't really talk much either.

"You can put that in the box over there," Charlene directed Marinette. She wasn't saying a whole lot today, just a lot of simple instructions as they worked on packing.

Mari did as she was told and crossed her friend's bedroom to put away a small pile of journals. It surprised her to see that Charlene liked to write too. She had let Mari look at a few of them. They were just collections of short stories, and they were so eloquently written with very well thought-out characters and settings. She must have done quite a bit of research to complete even those short stories.

"I don't know why you haven't looked at publishing them, or even just sharing them with friends," Mari said to Charlene. "You never know the people you could meet. Maybe you could be a successful writer too!" She gave Charlene a smile.

The other girl blushed a little out of embarrassment. "Oh, no, there's no way I could do that. I don't have enough experience in it."

"You don't necessarily have to have a lot of experience to do something you like. I mean, if that first step is never taken, we'd have a lot less people fulfilling their dreams, you know," said Marinette.

Charlene replied, "You have a point. I just can't see people seeing much potential in me." She paused in stuffing the box in front of her. Mari stopped too, waiting for her. Eventually, Charlene sighed and pulled out a crumpled napkin from her pocket. Mari recognized it as the one from yesterday.

She held it out to Mari. "This was meant for you."

Mari looked at Charlene and then took the napkin in her fingers, unfolding it. There was someone's number on it.

"It's Adrien's number," Charlene clarified. "He said to give it to you. So he could get the details for the send-of party."

Marinette's eyes widened. In her hand was the number of the guy that she had been crushing on since the mid-high school. She had been dreaming of the day that Adrien would give her any measure of attention, any hint that he was interested in her as more than just a friend.

She couldn't help the immediate feeling of giddiness that swelled in her chest. A smile broke out across her face as she hoped that maybe this could mean more for her.

Marinette looked up to see that Charlene had been watching her, her face passive.

It immediately squelched Marinette's excitement. Here her friend was, watching her get excited simply over a napkin with a number on it. She was even akumatized yesterday because Marinette was selfish. Guilt set in quickly as she looked back down at the napkin. Was pursuing something this trivial really worth hurting her friend?

Marinette's lips mashed together in thought, though it only took her a moment to make up her mind.

She held out the napkin to Charlene, who looked at it in confusion. Mari said, "You let him know."

Charlene's eyes widened in surprise. "What? I thought that you would want to talk to him yourself."

Mari shook her head. "No. Adrien gave his number hoping to get information about the send-off party, regardless of whether he got it from you or me. So _you_ tell him."

"But…Mari, you've liked him for so long. Don't you want to talk to him? It's the perfect opportunity."

"For you, it is," Marinette said. "Yeah, I've liked him for a while now, but nothing has really happened between us. If anything, one of us should make something happen." She held out the napkin again, urging her to take it.

Charlene hesitantly reached out for it, but then pulled back. "Mari…are you sure?"

Marinette nodded with a smile. "Of course. Now, please take it and just worry about yourself this time."

Charlene returned the smile, and she was absolutely beaming. Mari didn't think that Charlene had ever smiled that genuinely since they met. She was so happy. She took the napkin and held it in her hands as though it was a little treasure.

"Now, let's get back to packing," Mari said. "We've got to keep this momentum going!"

"Right!" Charlene turned to her things with some newfound motivation. She even started humming.

Marinette felt a tightening in her chest. It hurt, letting go of that little piece of hope. But, with any luck, something good would come out of her moving on.

* * *

"Why am I always late?" Marinette whined to herself as she sprinted down the sidewalk. She stayed at Charlene's place for longer than she had anticipated and now she was late for her lunch outing with Nathan and… _Matthieu_.

She didn't have anyone joining her either. Charlene now had Adrien's number and it was too late to ask Alya. Hopefully this would go smoothly with just the three of them.

Dame Tartine finally came into view and she noticed a red headed boy standing outside. Marinette smiled and slowed to a fast walk. As she got closer, she saw another boy with a black beanie, making the smile disappear. It was Matthieu, of course. Not that she wasn't expecting him. She just really didn't like him.

"Hi," Nathan greeted quietly, a small smile on his lips.

"Well, hey there," Matthieu crooned in that low voice of his. "Glad you finally made it. We were getting worried."

Marinette looked right at Matthieu with a pout on her lip. She didn't want to start off lunch with a bad attitude, but she could tell he wasn't going to make that easy on her. "I got here as fast as my little legs could take me."

He smirked. "Might need to grow a few inches there." He turned on his heel and stepped inside the café.

Marinette ground her teeth and followed him and Nathan inside. They were greeted by a hostess that told them they would be seated outside, and soon their waitress came to take their orders, which were some simple sandwiches and sodas.

For a while, there were some awkward pleasantries about school and work, what they had been doing over the summer, although they had talked about that all before. So those topics were exhausted rather quickly, and she was having a hard time being candid with Nathanaël because Matthieu was around. But she managed to ignore him and his snarky remarks for most of the conversation.

Tikki's warning was still buzzing the back of Mari's mind. So far, he was just as annoying as she initially thought, but she was just waiting for him to say something that would give her a legitimate reason to hate him.

Suddenly, Nathan started coughing and beating his hand on his chest.

"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed Marinette. "Are you okay?"

Matthieu lightly patted their friend's back as he kept coughing. "I'm fine," Nathan managed through another hack. "Wrong pipe."

After a while, his coughing fit still hadn't subsided and they didn't see their waitress anywhere nearby. Distraughtly, they looked at their table. None of them had asked for water and they had each finished their sodas. Nathan decided to excuse himself and awkwardly made his way inside, hacking the whole time.

"I'm glad to see you're still pleasant in person."

Mari looked at Matthieu in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The guy just shrugged. "Well, you just didn't seem so friendly over the phone yesterday, but I didn't want to make assumptions."

Mari narrowed her eyes at his audacity. "You know, I'd like to say the same thing, but you're awfully pushy." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Oh," he sang, leaning forward and resting his arms on the table. "I did make the one assumption that you are quite bold, but, really, you're just blunt."

Mari opened her mouth to say he shouldn't be making such quick judgments, but she shut her mouth. It would have made her sound like a hypocrite. Matthieu cocked his head to the side and smiled haughtily.

The cry of a girl in surprise made the two of them peer back over to the door of the restaurant. It seemed that Nathan had opened it on a girl and spilled his cup of ice water all over her and the ground.

Instinctively, Mari rose up from her seat to help when she felt a hand on her arm. She looked back at Matthieu. "What are you—"

"Leave him be. He's a big boy."

She scowled at him and drew her arm back. "Why do you keep speaking for Nathanaël? You know he can speak for himself."

Matthieu rose a brow at her.

Marinette bit her lip. She rolled her eyes and sat down with a huff. "Shut up."

"So much attitude," he teased. "At least we're on the same page. Kinda." They glanced back at Nathan and the girl. He was apologizing and rushing back inside for napkins for her to clean herself. Then they started picking up ice cubes from the ground, since it was right in front of the door.

Mari mashed her lips together in thought again, folding her arms across her chest. "Matthieu."

"Yes?" he cooed with a smile.

She frowned at him. "Don't start that with me. I want to apologize."

He looked at her with a bit of surprise and then waved a hand in front of him as a gesture for her to continue. "Go on. What for?"

 _Gosh_ , he was making it hard to be sorry. "I made assumptions about you without getting to know you first. For that, I apologize."

He simply nodded. "Apology accepted. So, what other kinds of assumptions did you make about me?"

She briefly made a face of disbelief. He was just so…flippant. Like he didn't even care about the apology. Maybe he didn't need it. Some would call that confidence. Marinette was leaning more towards arrogance.

"Uh, well," she said, "besides thinking that you're pushy, I also thought you were domineering."

This time he was genuinely confused. He stated, "That sounds like the same thing."

Marinette shook her head. "They're not. At least not in my mind." When his expression didn't change, she sighed, struggling to grasp at the words she wanted to use. "Pushy people are a little more innocent about it. More like they're trying to help the other person. Domineering people try to get others to do things for their own benefit. The motivations are different."

Matthieu had listened to her intently, his hand at his chin. When she was done explaining, he grinned at her shrewdly. "Well, you'd be correct. So you don't need to be sorry about it."

Her eyes widened. "What? What kind of person just admits that?"

"An abnormal individual I would imagine." He shrugged again, acting all nonchalant about his blatancy. "I can tell that weirded you out. Did you want some explanation?" He popped the last of his sandwich into his mouth.

Her face was frozen in a state of uncertainty, but Marinette nodded.

"Well," Matthieu began after swallowing, "I am pushy. For the sake of my friends, as you can see." He pointed over to Nathan, who had picked up the ice off the floor and was now chatting with the girl he bumped into. They were smiling quite a bit at each other.

"Yeah, but you couldn't have known that was going to happen," Mari quipped.

"True. But if I hadn't stopped you, that girl probably wouldn't be talking to him tight now," he pointed out. "You were also right about me being domineering—although that really does have a negative connotation doesn't it?"

Mari nodded again, not really feeling comfortable saying anything. Matthieu continued, "Everybody has their own motivations. You want to be a fashion designer; Nathan wants to be a graphic designer; I want to be a photographer. I'm willing to get others to help me get what I want. Most aren't."

"That's…" Mari said slowly, "kind of manipulative."

"Not if it's for mutual benefit." Matthieu smiled and leaned forward against the table. His stare was pretty intense.

Mari narrowed her eyes. "What do you want from me?"

"I am _so_ glad you asked!" he said with that kind of sarcastic enthusiasm. He was fairly loud and attracted the attention of customers around them. Mari was the one that awkwardly waved them off.

Matthieu had no problem ignoring them. "It's my understanding that you probably—eventually—want an internship or job in the fashion industry. Something that can lead to your big break in design, correct?" She nodded. "Well, have you created your portfolio yet?"

Her brows furrowed. "Portfolio?"

"Well, yeah. Don't tell me that you only have your sketchbook full of designs?"

Mari's eyes got huge and she sat there completely frozen. A portfolio? She hadn't even thought of that. Of course, it's just like her to only have a sketchbook! How had she gotten this far without even _considering_ having a portfolio?

"Sketchbooks I'm sure are good for showing your creative process, but you need to be professional too." Matthieu chuckled. "How air-headed of you."

Mari glowered at him. "I'm sure you had a point in bringing up my air-headedness?" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nathan was still talking with that girl, but now another girl, probably a friend, had joined the conversation. If he didn't get back to them quickly, Mari was going to bite Matthieu's head off.

"Why, of course I did," he said with a toothy grin. He pointed to himself. "Make me your photographer."

"Huh?"

"You heard me."

"I did. But you can't be serious?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" He looked at her earnestly. "You need a portfolio—as do I. I already have quite a bit of projects that I've pulled photos from. But I want to add some new material, and from what I've heard from Nathan, you have quite the talent. So, I want to photograph your designs."

Mari looked at him with suspicion, searching his blue eyes for any sign of deception. He met her gaze easily, that smile still on his lips.

Nathan then walked up to table, practically beaming. There was a flush on his cheeks and he was rather quiet, like he was thinking to himself.

Matthieu sat back and crossed his arms. "Looks like that conversation went well, hm?" He raised a brow at Nathan, who self-consciously cleared his throat and hid the silly grin on his face. Matthieu laughed. "Must have. Your face is beat red."

Nathan choked up. "S-shut up." He plopped down next to Mari, who willingly scooted over for him and patted his shoulder in consolation.

"I wouldn't get too comfortable there, friend," Matthieu said, taking out his cell phone to glance at it. "We've used up all of our lunch time. My uncle will be expecting us soon." Matthieu got up from his chair and waited for Nathanaël.

The red head slid out of his seat apologetically. He told Mari that he was looking forward to the send-off party next weekend and they hugged goodbye. Mari turned to Matthieu, but definitely didn't make a move to hug him goodbye.

He still smiled at her. "Just think about it, okay?"

Marinette fake smiled and waved goodbye as Nathan asked what he was talking about. Matthieu just gave some excuse to placate him.

Sure she would think about it. She'd think about how revolting working with such an egotist would be.

* * *

Adrien was surprised when he got a text message from Charlene.

 _Hi Adrien! It's Charlene. Marinette gave me the information for the party if you wanted it :)_

He wondered if she even gave his number to Marinette. He thought for sure she would have, and probably did. But then why wouldn't Marinette text him instead of Charlene? She didn't strike him as the kind of person to ignore someone that asks her questions.

Maybe she was too busy and needed to delegate that task to some of her friends. But now he wondered just how many people were spreading her time and attention so thin. And if any of them happened to be guys…

Adrien sat at his dining table by his lonesome, strumming his fingers as he thought. He glanced around at his still-bare apartment. He hadn't really unpacked much, especially after yesterday. He had tons of boxes just sitting in his small living room and some more in his even smaller bedroom.

Even with his photoshoots paying him a decent sum, he wasn't going to be able to afford too extravagant of a home for quite some time. He would have to be paying for books and tuition and bus or train fare.

Plus, he was planning on leaving his modeling gig after he saved enough, which meant every purchase he made would have to be justified. He would be so tight, he'd squeak when he walked.

He had a shoot scheduled for today, so he wouldn't be able to tackle those boxes this time either. Adrien glanced at his wristwatch for the time. He was supposed to be meeting a few other models that would be at the shoot too. There was just enough time for him to stop by a certain bakery.

He felt his cheeks heat up.

"Ngh," he groaned and rubbed at his face, willing the blush away. He wasn't even there yet and he was already embarrassed.

"You worry about the stupidest things, Adrien," Plagg said. "Who cares about talking to a girl when you bought the cheap camembert?" Plagg was throwing chunks of his cheese around the table, whining and complaining about the quality.

Adrien sighed. "We're on our own now, Plagg. I can't afford what Father was buying." He pinched his nose. "But somehow this kind is smellier."

His kwami lay down on his back in star form, his chunks of camembert surrounding him. "I don't know if we're gonna make it…"

Adrien rolled his bright green eyes. "You're melodramatic this morning."

"Drama and chaos sometimes go hand in hand."

Adrien sighed again. "I don't know how this is going to go. I want to talk to her, but…ah…I don't know…" He dejectedly leaned against his chair and let his head fall back.

Plagg grabbed a piece of cheese that was lying next to him and squinted at it. "You've been like this ever since you found out that Marinette is Ladybug. Why are you finding it so hard to talk to the same person?" He nibbled at the camembert and made a disgusted face.

The cat had a point, Adrien thought. It shouldn't matter at this point what he was saying, so long as he was talking to her. He had done that plenty as Cat Noir, but definitely not as Adrien. He smiled, feeling a bit giddy. It felt like he was meeting his Lady for the first time again.

Adrien sent a text back to Charlene, letting her know that he was stopping by the bakery today and that he didn't need the information, then he went to change out of his sweats. Once he got ready, he sent a message to Karoline, who would be one of the other models at the shoot today, saying he would meet them there instead.

Plagg hadn't finished his cheese, but Adrien grabbed him and the stinky chunks. He shoved them both in a shirt pocket and flew out the door.

The prospect of talking to Marinette put him in such a chipper mood, he was running all the way to the bakery.

"Hey, slow down, kid!" Plagg yelped from the shirt pocket. "Heavy breathing probably doesn't impress the ladies!"

Adrien wasn't worried about it. He was in pretty good shape from the time he spent as Cat Noir, plus he had been working out more and was still somehow in those fencing classes, although he suspected his enrollment in that would soon come to an end now that he was on his own.

He finally arrived at the Boulangerie Patisserie and tentatively opened the shop door to poke his head in. He wasn't even sure that she was going to be there this morning, but there she stood, behind the register. She perked up at the sound of the chiming of the bells above the door.

"Hello, welcome to—" Her eyes widened in a bit of surprise and she grinned. "A-Adrien! H-hi! What are you doing here?"

He stepped in and strode right up to the counter, full of confidence. "Well, I do live nearby though, so I thought I would stop in for breakfast." He smiled and leaned one arm on the counter.

"O-oh," she stammered. "We do have plenty of pastries. What kind were you looking for?"

"Hm, well, I do have a bit of a sweet tooth. What would you recommend?"

Marinette put a finger to her chin in thought and glanced around. "Uh..." She walked around the counter and over to a wall that had some pastries behind a plastic encasement. Adrien followed behind her with that cat-like swagger. "These ones are chocolate filled croissants. You like that, if I remember correctly."

He was surprised she remembered that detail, although it wasn't anything extraordinary. A lot of people liked chocolate, and this was just small talk that he was trying to move on from. "You'd be right. I'll take two of those."

She nodded and grabbed two, putting them in a small paper bag for him to carry and leading them back to the register to ring him up. He said to her, "I actually wanted to ask you about the party too."

Marinette looked up at him with a little confusion. "Did Charlene not give you the information for it?"

He shook his head. "She texted me, but I thought I'd ask you since I was coming in anyhow, and you were thoughtful enough to ask me."

Adrien thought she saw pink start to color her cheeks before she quickly looked down at the register and started pushing buttons. "O-oh. Um, the, uh, party is going to be this Saturday at three. It'll be at the park."

"Did you and Nino figure out if he'll be DJing for you?"

She nodded. "Yeah, he'll be bringing all of his equipment and setting it up before the party starts."

"And the other guests? Probably from Dupont?"

Another nod.

"I see."

Adrien was having a hard time talking to her, since she didn't really say much in return. It was so stiff and awkward. But he had an idea for how to change that.

"I was wondering," he started, "would you happen to want to go look at street art around the city this Friday, like how we did before? I found this great app that lets you upload and search for graffiti and things like that around Paris."

A barely audible gasp escaped Mari's mouth. In that moment she looked really excited, since art and all things creative seemed to be her biggest passion. But just as quickly as it came, the moment left and she was left looking highly pensive.

"Would it…be okay…" she mumbled.

He couldn't really hear and leaned in. "What was that?"

She immediately leaned back. "W-would it be okay if I invited Charlene to come with us? I don't know if you were just inviting me—I mean, that would be cool, too—but I know Charlene also really likes things like that. And it would be fun for a group of us." She laughed and scratched behind her head.

He observed her carefully, but put on that bright smile he showed to everyone. "Sure, the more the merrier right?"

That didn't really go as he intended. He was hoping to use the time to get to know _her_ better.

 _Well, at least the group size is getting smaller._

The bells chimed above the door behind him, making him turn around. Marinette peered around him.

A group of three entered the bakery—a girl and two boys. At the front was one of the guys. He had a darker complexion and stood well over six feet tall. He wore a maroon pullover and bluish pants and had a beard that was given a clean cut. He looked older than the rest, but probably not by much.

Behind him was a strawberry blonde with amber eyes and freckles—Karoline—who decided to wear a high-fashion crop top and patterned skirt. Around her neck and wrists were some dainty gold jewelry. She stepped with a sort of grace that always seemed to escape Marinette.

Last to enter the bakery was a young man that looked in his early twenties. The first thing anyone would notice about him was his scowl. But even with that frown, he was quite handsome. His hair was a pale blond, his eyes were a light blue, and he was fairly complected. He wore a grey button-down, dark grey vest with a black tie, and black dress trousers—more professional looking.

Marinette offered a welcome to the new customers. Adrien offered a smile and waved at them. "Oh, hey guys. What are you doing here? I thought we were meeting at the shoot?"

Karoline ran up to Adrien and jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug. It threw them off balance and he had to steady them. "We thought it would be more fun to walk with you there."

"Except for doom and gloom back there," the tall, dark man said with an Australian drawl. He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder to the blond who hadn't moved too far from the door.

He was glancing around at the items in the bakery and said to himself, "Our nutritionist would have a heart attack if she caught us in here…"

"Cooper." Adrien smiled and greeted the tall man with a pound hug. Cooper Thompson* was from Australia and had started modeling around the same age that Adrien had, so he had been in the business long enough. He trusted his advice. "I didn't know you were going to be in this shoot."

The man named Cooper shrugged. "It was a last-minute thing. I guess they needed someone to appeal to older customers so they buy stuff from the clothing line. That's also probably why they recruited the grouch over there." He peered over to the other blond again. "Hey, Félix! Get over here and start being social."

The young man's frown somehow deepened. But he did stroll over to them. He stopped when Karoline grabbed a hold of his arm and hugged it close to her. She sang, "Oh, Félix. Why are you being so disagreeable this morning?"

He huffed. "None of you seem to have a sense of urgency. It's unprofessional."

Cooper playfully punched their friend's shoulder. "C'mon, you stiff. Learn to live life while you're young."

"You're not much older than us," Karoline stated, puffing out her lips. "You say that with the wisdom of an old crock."

Minus Félix, they all had a good laugh out of it. Even Marinette was giggling from behind the register. Adrien suddenly realized that he hadn't introduced her to everyone else. "Mari, these are some friends that I'll be modeling with today." He pointed to each person as he named them. "There's Karoline Mercier, Cooper Thompson, and Félix Dubois*. Everyone, this is Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

Mari shyly waved at them, a goofy smile adorning her lips. Adrien couldn't find it in himself to look away from her. Her awkward manner was so adorable.

He happened to miss the way Karoline looked her up and down. Marinette didn't.

Félix eyed her briefly before he rolled up his sleep to check the time. He sighed in annoyance. "Because of you all, we are now late. I'm leaving with or without you." He easily broke loose from Karoline's vice on his arm and strode swiftly out the door. Cooper and Karoline laughed between themselves and followed after him without a backward glance.

Adrien made eye contact with Marinette and shrugged with a smile. "So I guess I'll see you and Charlene this Friday, then?"

Marinette offered a small grin. "Ah, y-yes. We'll see you then."

"I'll text you a time," he said with a wink before walking out the door.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I have introduced my own version of Chat Blanc! :D This is the reason I decided to use "Cat Noir" instead of "Chat Noir." I'll be using Cat (for Cat Noir) and Chat (for Chat Blanc) to differentiate between these two characters in future chapters.**

 **I mentioned before that I have a minimum for my chapters (4,000 words even though I go well above it), but I also try to set a deadline for myself because I do better under pressure. I've been trying for two weeks, but that might not be enough. I'll be trying three weeks this time. You can always check my status (if I'm on hiatus or something) and my deadline on my profile if you're ever curious.**

 **I also colored all of my character sketches if you wanted to see those too!**

 ***Chat Blanc- This character has a sketch on DeviantArt! My username on DeviantArt is tayram. I have a whole folder (entitled "Vanish") dedicated to this fanfiction for you to look at character sketches.**

 ***Cooper Thompson & Félix Dubois- These characters share a sketch on DeviantArt!**

 **Please review and critique! It really helps me! Thanks for reading! :D**

 **-Ram 8/14/2016**


	8. Savage Company

**A/N:**

 **I'm a week later than promised, but I hope it's worth it for you, my lovely readers! Thank you for following my story, as slow as it's coming along. I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D**

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or its characters, only the plot of this work.**_

* * *

Chapter 8. Savage Company

Marinette tried for the umpteenth time to get her camera to focus with the poor lighting of her room. She groaned when the picture turned out like the last dozen. Most of her belongings were already packed up in boxes for when she would move out next week, but after Matthieu's mention of her portfolio, she was freaking out.

So she pulled out a box of her designs that she had managed to make herself. Alya was her model, of course, and she stood there like the good friend she was—save for the exasperated expression she wore.

"It's not going to get any better than the last one you took," she stated as Marinette aimed her phone's camera at her once again.

Mari threw her hands up in the air in defeat, falling back on her bed with a moan. She smothered her face with a pillow. "What am I going to do, Alya?" came the muffled question.

Alya pulled out her phone and started looking at some of her social media apps. She was extremely interested in Chat Blanc and needed to look up some more information to add to her Ladyblog, especially since she was attacked by the baddie this time and couldn't remember _anything_. She was beside herself with shame from that loss of a good story.

"I don't see why you don't just take Matt up on his offer," Alya said, finally giving her friend's distress some notice. "I think it's a pretty good setup for the two of you."

Marinette peered out from under her pillow, her eyes narrowed in clear disgust. "And let him win? I don't think so."

"Let _him_ win? It's obviously a win-win situation for you both." Alya quickly searched on her phone and walked over to Mari. She held the screen for her to see. "Just look at this, Mari. He's a great photographer! I don't personally know anyone with half the talent he does. And he's so young!"

Marinette eyed the phone which had a web page pulled up with a photo gallery. It was Matthieu's.

She bolted from her place on her mattress and grabbed the phone. "What is _this_? He has his own website?"

Alya went over to the box with Marinette's pieces in it and started to sift through. "I think it's one of those public sites for artists to post their work."

Mari narrowed her eyes again. "You found this awfully quick."

Alya waved her off. "I know what you're getting at. Mari, I want to be a reporter. It's in my repertoire to look for and find information."

"Mhmm."

Alya rolled her eyes. "Think whatever you want. I was just curious about him." She happened across some men's clothing. She held it up to the young designer with a knowing smirk. "I don't suppose you could ask a certain model we both know to take photos with us?"

Marinette's flush instantly flooded her face. That particular shirt and the matching pants were actually made to fit Adrien if she ever got the guts to ask him to do it. But she would not admit that to Alya. "I don't think I'll be doing that anytime soon." She looked downcast.

Her friend saw her obvious change of mood. She set down the shirt and went to sit by Mari. "Girl, I know that look too. What's happened?"

Mari sighed. She knew that she couldn't hide her feelings from Alya and that she would figure out what happened sooner or later. "I've given up on my crush on Adrien," she admitted.

Alya was shocked. "What? After all this time, you just decided you don't want to get with Adrien anymore?"

Marinette shook her head. "It's not that simple. It took some time and thinking…but the biggest thing that swayed me was Charlene. She likes Adrien too."

"Oh," Alya gasped. "Does Charlene know you like him? Surely, she would understand."

"She knows. But, if Adrien liked me in the slightest, don't you think he would have acted on it by now?" She didn't mention that tomorrow she would be looking at art with him and Charlene. Alya would definitely try to spin it in a more optimistic way that would create some false hope for her. She really wanted Charlene to get the chance she didn't.

"I guess," her friend conceded, but with a searching glace. "Are you sure? I mean, will you be okay?"

Marinette got a little teary-eyed but tried to laugh it off. "Charlene asked the same thing. I will be…eventually. I just…need to move on…" She placed the phone back in Alya's hands and dropped her gaze down to her own lap. Her crying face wasn't her favorite thing to share.

Alya just quietly wrapped her arms around her friend, hoping that gesture was enough to help her through this moment.

* * *

Adrien stood outside with his arms crossed and his foot tapping. Not out of impatience, but nervousness, rather. He was the first to arrive at the meeting spot they had agreed upon. So he was waiting for Marinette and Charlene to arrive, alone, save for Plagg.

He had spent the last few days trying to come up with things he could talk about and ask each of them—well, mostly Marinette. He really wanted to get out of this simple conversation stage and move on to more interesting and personal topics. Well, not necessarily personal. Just…deeper? More from the heart, he surmised.

How things were between them now, he felt more like an acquaintance than a true friend, like how he was with Nino. Or how he used to be with Chloé.

Adrien knew very superficial things about Marinette. Things like her character—the way she acted in school—or that she was Chinese, or that she wanted to be a fashion designer. But he wanted to know more. Like what her goals were beyond her career and her relationship with her family and relatives. Or even simple things like how she likes her eggs for breakfast. Does she like to cook, like her great-uncle? Does she have other hidden talents? Maybe Ladybug's athleticism is actually a result of Marinette's physical prowess.

That thought process was new.

Previously, he had been comparing Marinette to Ladybug, as if he was trying to make her fit the image of his Lady. That had been because he was reeling at the discovery that his now-former classmate was secretly his villain-fighting partner, and it had seemed almost impossible.

But after thinking about it so much, it just made so much sense. The obvious and most noticeable things—her absence from class or disappearances during akuma attacks. Or how she was always tired, or the kind of bold outbursts she made against Chloé the way Ladybug did against Hawkmoth.

Even the odd inverse of her social skills as a civilian versus a heroine made sense, since she was trying to hide her identity. What could be more inconspicuous?

Now he was trying to find every possible reason he could to tie the two persons together, and each time he would talk to her, it just became clearer to him.

The only issue was trying to establish a basis of conversation with her. Talking to Marinette was so difficult because she could barely get out a sentence, although she seemed to be getting better at it. Adrien wondered if that was part of her cover up, or if she really was that quiet.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Marinette and Charlene approaching him. He stopped tapping his foot in favor of giving a smile and wave to the ladies. He watched the blue-eyed girl curiously, wondering what he might find out about her today.

Which was the guise? Marinette, or Ladybug?

"Hi, Adrien," Marinette surprisingly greeted first, a bright smile on her face.

Adrien couldn't help the wide grin. "Well, hello there."

Charlene had her hands folded in front of her, and he saw that she had a hard time making eye contact. Marinette gave her a light tap on her arm. "H-hi, Adrien," she said meekly.

"Good morning, Charlene," he replied. "Are you ready to find some awesome graffiti today?" He held up his phone with a smirk.

"Y-yes!" she answered quickly, followed by a laugh.

She was obviously nervous, and Adrien already knew she was fairly shy and quiet. Did he intimidate girls like that? Was it the way he talked? He looked back at Marinette. He remembered when she was like that, but now she stood next to Charlene, exuding some air of confidence that he sometimes saw that she had.

Was that her guise?

"Tell me where we're going ladies!" Adrien said aloud, but looked to Marinette.

She smiled and looked at Charlene. "I know that you really like this stuff. Where should we start?"

Their shy friend put her fingers to her lips in thought and tried to make eye contact with Adrien. "Um, well, there's a lot of tours and artists in Seine-Saint-Denis. We can go look at those…"

Adrien nodded enthusiastically. "Sure! It looks like we'll be taking the Metro, then." He gestured his hand for them to lead the way.

They had to walk to the station, and Adrien attempted to walk beside Marinette, but as they made their way there, she somehow ended up on the other side of the trio so that Charlene was in the middle.

He was able to keep up a conversation with Charlene about some of the art and the upcoming semester and their studies, but he couldn't help his gaze from wandering back over to the other girl with the blue eyes. He tried multiple times to strike up conversations with her but it always somehow circled back to Charlene.

Even when they finally got onto the Metro, Marinette kept her distance from him, pulling out her phone a few times and making faces before shoving it back into her little purse. He wondered what made her make those expressions. Charlene had gotten a little more talkative on their trip to Seine-Saint-Denis, so he didn't really get a chance to ask Mari.

They got off the train and wandered the streets. Marinette had understated Charlene's love for the street art. She was extremely enthusiastic about the history of the art, as the graffiti gained a lot of movement in the 70s and 80s. She made it apparent that she came here for inspiration for her designs, more retro or as a throwback to those times, she described it.

Charlene was looking at a piece on the opposite side of the street as Marinette. Adrien wandered over to Mari's side to admire the mural with her.

"What inspires your designs, Mari?" Adrien inquired of her.

She tilted her head to the side as she continued to regard the piece. "I'd say…my pieces are more eccentric. They're very bold compared to what people normally wear."

"Right," Adrien said. "I remember that hat you designed while we were at Dupont." She at last looked at him. "The one with the feathers," he clarified.

A smile finally broke out across her lips. "You remember that?" She crossed her arms and looked down at her feet. "I was so happy to hear your father praise my work." She looked at him with a little alarm. "I mean, I know he didn't really say a whole lot, but your father is my favorite designer, so…it made me happy."

Adrien chuckled. "My father is pretty reserved. That was actually quite the compliment—coming from him, at least."

"Was it really?" she asked eagerly. She sighed in longing. "I wish I could do something for his line. It would be amazing to work with someone with such talent and experience." She looked at him again with wide eyes. "I-I swear I'm not fishing for anything!"

"I understand. And actually, if you want, I could probably—"

A tap on Adrien's shoulder pulled his attention away. It was Charlene. She was ready to head to a new spot, as they had exhausted their interest in this area. So they wandered around, and again Marinette kept her space. He thought he made a little bit of headway by mentioning Marinette's designs. He could always bring it up again later.

But Adrien was learning more about Charlene than he was about Mari. Apparently Charlene was one of three siblings, her being the middle child; she grew up outside of Paris, but moved to the city about a year ago with her family; and she had a particular interest in America and the fashion capital there. She eventually wanted to visit.

Adrien kept looking at Marinette, who diverted her eyes when they made contact. She kept her phone pulled out, and he saw that she was making faces once more. And not good ones. More like ones that were of disdain and frustration.

They stopped for a bit when Charlene said that she had to use the restroom. She excused herself and left Adrien and Marinette standing alone. It was quiet for a moment, until he heard the buzz of her phone. Mari pulled it out of her pocket and unlocked the screen.

Adrien's glance was very brief, but he saw the name. Matthieu Boyer.

"Is everything alright?" he asked her.

She looked to him in slight surprise. "Yes. Why wouldn't it be?"

Adrien shrugged and cocked his head. "I've noticed a couple times, but you seem to be upset when you pull out your phone. Is someone bothering you?"

She sighed. So there was.

They were waiting outside the bathrooms by the wall, so he turned fully to her and leaned against it. "Is there a guy I'm going to have to beat up for you?"

She snorted. "I just might do it myself if it keeps going on like this." She put her phone away and crossed her arms.

"Who is it? If I may ask."

"His name is Matthieu Boyer," Marinette answered with a frown. "He's Alix's cousin and a friend of Nathanaël. He's been…bothersome since I met him."

Adrien quirked a brow. "Bothersome how? He's not stalking you is he?"

She waved her hands frantically. "Oh, no! He's not a stalker. Just… _really_ pushy."

He was about to ask for some more information when Charlene exited the bathroom. Adrien gave Marinette one last look before they started off again.

The rest of their outing went by fairly quickly, and Adrien couldn't seem to catch another moment alone with Marinette. Every time he went to speak to her, he was either interrupted by Charlene's innocent remarks or Marinette diverted his attention back to the other girl. It was as though she really didn't want to talk to him.

So, really, his entire objective was completely missed.

The day ended too soon for him, but as he bade the ladies farewell, Adrien promised himself that he would put in more effort in getting to know Marinette.

* * *

Enzo was playing a rugby match at the Stade de France in Paris. He ran with fervor, the intensity of the stares around him bore into his back as he ran with the ball. This was the final match of their two day tournament, and whoever took the points at the end of this game would win. Enzo wore his lucky old leather boots, hoping they had just enough to carry him to the try line.

A player from the opposing team was quickly gaining on his flank. Enzo felt the burning in his legs as he tried to pick up his pace to outrun the other player. The rest of their two teams were chasing behind them in an all-out effort to either score a try or stop it. With time running out, this would be the last play of the match.

 _Faster._

The other guy was still gaining ground behind him. Twenty seconds were left in the game and Enzo was only fifteen meters from the try line.

 _Faster._

He focused all of his energy into running faster. He had to get there.

 _Faster._ The other player was faster. Hope escaped him when he felt the body of the other rugger against his, and they fell together in a tackle. Immediately, a ruck formed around the fallen players. Enzo had to release the ball and escape the ruck. He glimpsed behind him as he got out of the way.

He saw it. The player that had tackled him handled the ball so that it was closer to his teammates before he left the ruck.

"Hey!" Enzo shouted with disbelief, looking to the referee to see if he had noticed. It was obvious that he did, but he didn't call the foul. Enzo kept shouting at the referee, but didn't leave his place.

The other players didn't seem to care in the midst of the kicking chaos. The scoreboard showed that there was only ten seconds left in the match. To Enzo's dismay, the opposing team moved forward and gained control of the ball.

The player that had tackled Enzo was passed the ball and took off in the other direction, effectively ending the play as the buzzer sounded.

And that was the end of it. The other team cheered and huddled the man that tackled Enzo, rejoicing his remarkable save. The spectators in favor of the winning team were applauding from the stands.

Enzo's teammates dejectedly began to walk off the pitch, the celebrations doing nothing to lift their mood even though they would be taking second place in the tournament.

Enzo stood alone on the field, his hands clenched into fists at his sides as he watched the winning team continue to huddle the other player. They momentarily made eye contact, and the rugger smirked at him.

Anger and outrage was all that Enzo could feel at the moment. It overcame him. How could the referee not make the call? How could that cheater have gotten away with what he did? After all of the hard work that he and his team had put into this tournament—the practices, the lunches, the lectures from their coach. How could they have lost to someone so shameful?

 _Wouldn't you love to expose that fraud?_

Enzo looked upon the cheering team in front of him, his eyes darkened.

"Yes," he spat through grit teeth. "If everyone could see what he did, his shame will never allow him to play again."

 _Then show us how it should've been done, Playmaker_.

* * *

The summer sun beat down on the park where Marinette and Nathan decided to host their send-off party. It was as though whatever deity controlled the weather had decided today would be the day a season's worth of humidity should hang in the air. It was stiff and hot, but it didn't seem to bother anyone.

Nino's equipment was already set up and a few of the guests from Dupont were already arriving. Dupont students were allowed to bring friends, as they wanted to include other students that would be starting at university, regardless if they were acquainted with the hosts.

Marinette and Charlene were chitchatting amongst themselves about how long it had taken them to get ready. They had decided to pretty themselves up, both wearing dresses and their hair let down and curled. Mari's had grown quite a bit. It was at least half way down her back now and it made her feel older. Maybe she would wear it down from now on. Adrien had said that he liked it.

No, that wasn't right. It shouldn't matter to her whether he liked her hair up or down or short or long. His opinion wouldn't hold any favor to her anymore. She was determined to keep it that way for Charlene's sake. She smiled at her friend who had that gleam of hope in her eye as she looked for that blonde boy they both loved.

Ugh. This was going to take some time. Maybe she would have to avoid him as much as possible. She needed a distraction, something to take her out of that sad equation. Mari spotted Nathanaël across the lawn and cracked a smile. She wished luck to Charlene and weaved through people on her way over to him.

"Nathan!" she called when she was close enough so he could hear her over the music. "How are you doing over here? Have you spotted your lady friend yet?" She nudged his side.

The immediate blush was hard to miss. "N-not yet." He cleared his throat. "She said that she might be a little late, but that she'd come."

"What's her name?" Mari asked happily. It was so adorable seeing Nathan getting flustered over a girl. She didn't know if he had liked anyone after their little episode in high school.

"Adalene," Nathanaël said amorously and sighed. Oh yeah, he was feeling it hard. It made Marinette giggle, drawing his attention. "W-what? What's so funny?" He examined himself. "Do I look bad?"

Marinette placed a reassuring hand on his arm. "You look fine Nathan. Better than fine. I'm sure she'll find you quite handsome." She gave him a wink.

Nathan laughed. "We'll see about that, won't we?"

" _Oh_ , is our friend gonna get lucky?" came a melodic voice.

Marinette closed her eyes and took a calming breathe. She knew who it was without looking at him. She turned her head just enough to acknowledge his presence. "Matthieu."

He snaked a hand around her waist. "Sweetest Mari, how are you?" A perfectly crooked smile played at his lips and he wore his signature black beanie.

Mari frowned and immediately removed his hand using her own. "Fine. And nobody's getting lucky. Nothing in our discussion was even remotely related." She glanced over to Nathan whose cheeks were quite flushed and he couldn't seem to make eye contact with her no matter how long she stared.

She finally gasped. "Nathanaël! I didn't take you for that kind of guy!"

"No!" he denied with embarrassment, turning impossibly red. "I mean, of course I've—what I mean is—oh, my God, I can't talk about this with you, Mari. I'm going to go grab some water." He begged off with an apology.

She watched him go with worry. She hadn't meant to embarrass him. A chuckle from Matthieu made her whip her head to him with scrutiny in her eye. "What is it _Boyer_?" she spat.

"Oh, is that how you're going to address me now, _Miss Dupain-Cheng_?" He leaned his head down with that despicably handsome smirk of his. When Marinette didn't back down, he leaned back but still kept eye contact with her. "I just find it funny how you couldn't think of Nathanaël as _that kind of guy_."

Mari snorted and crossed her arms, looking out over the now crowded park with all of her friends chatting and dancing away. She saw Nathanaël had found Adalene. They were grinning amongst themselves, which made Mari smile too. "Nathan's too romantic to be that kind of guy."

This time Matthieu snorted. "Better take off those rose colored glasses, sweetheart. All guys have thought about it at one time or another, regardless of how _romantic_ they are." He chuckled to himself again.

"I'm not naïve to that, Matthieu. But I know that not all guys are solely motivated by it, as rare as they are."

He shrugged. "You know what they say—it's the shy ones you've got to look out for."

Marinette rolled her eyes and began walking over to some tables that they had set up with some food. Her parents were kind enough to supply goodies for the party, and some of the guests had brought their own dish to pass. Mari was feeling a little salty with her present company and went straight for the chips and dip.

"I suppose," Mari said around a mouthful of food, "that you've thought about that enough yourself, as perverse as you are."

"Well, duh. What do you take me for?" Matthieu snagged a chip from her plate. He missed the disgusted scrunch of her nose and continued on. "It's a matter of whether a person acts on it or not."

She quirked a brow at him. "You seem to act on your impulses well enough. I'm sure you've acted on that one too."

He leaned down and grabbed a lock of her hair, the ice blue of his eyes regarding her carefully. "Are you curious?"

Mari's brows furrowed, but she couldn't bring herself to look away. Not because she was captivated, she told herself, but because she considered his stare-downs to be challenges. She easily smacked his hand away. "I can't say that I am."

He gave her a toothy grin. " _I_ am, though." Marinette's eyes widened before he asked, "Have you thought about my proposition from the other day? You haven't replied to my texts lately."

"I've been ignoring you, that's why." He had been texting her every day since he told her he wanted to be her photographer. Rather, he wanted to photograph her designs so _his_ portfolio looked good. He really was selfish. "You know, some would consider that harassment."

Matthieu grabbed his chest and feigned pain. "How cruel! And you say it so easily. Maybe you and I are more alike than you think. This could be a favorable alliance, yet."

She shook her head at him and placed her empty plate down before crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't know how you came to that conclusion, but humor me."

"You wanna know how I can tell you're considering it? It's simple really." He grabbed a chip out of its proper bowl and shamelessly dunked it right into the dip bowl. "You haven't blocked my number yet." He smugly popped the chip into his mouth.

* * *

Adrien had been anxiously watching Marinette as she exchanged glances and words with this guy. He was irritated by how easily he stayed in close proximity to her and, somehow, effortlessly carried on conversations with her. His presence alone was maddening.

But possibly even more frustrating was that he couldn't tell if Marinette was enjoying his company or not. He saw her eye rolls and her crossed arms—something she often did as Ladybug when she was trying to be tough or when she was irritated herself. But he couldn't decipher which it was from this distance.

By some strange turn of events, Adrien ended up chatting with Charlene. He traced it back in his mind.

He arrived—by foot, no less, since he didn't have that limo and gorilla anymore—when there weren't a lot of people yet. He spotted Marinette immediately, but Nino had some technical difficulties that required his assistance. As soon as he could, he broke away in search of Mari again, only to be pulled aside by Kim and Max to catch up on typical topics, like school and a challenge issued by Kim.

After declining with a laugh, he slipped into the crowd of people in the park and sought out Marinette once more. She was with Nathanaël and another guy, and unease set in as he made his way to them. But Alya had grabbed his hand and yanked him in the other direction to ask about his new apartment, to which he obliged her.

And then they bumped into Charlene, with whom he had been making very casual, if not awkward, conversation since Alya left them. Adrien answered her questions and appropriately inquired and remarked on things in turn, but his attention was almost completely drawn away.

Marinette looked beautiful. It was rare to see her so dressed up—in a dress, no less. Her hair was down, like when they went on their first group outing. Her pale skin almost glowed, it was so perfect. It was truly a sight to behold.

But this guy with the beanie was bothering him. He seemed persistent. Very…pushy. He wondered if perhaps this was the mysterious _Matthieu Boyer_ that was texting Mari so much yesterday.

He saw Marinette laugh though. And again he couldn't tell the sincerity of it. Was she playing hard to get? Was that her game? If it was, she definitely played it well enough with Cat Noir. Yet Mari didn't strike him as that kind of girl.

No, he couldn't see her being that way. Which meant her "playing hard to get" was actually her being annoyed. Coming to this conclusion, he was more than just irritated by the fact that this guy wasn't getting the picture. Frankly, he was pissed. It didn't require much to notice that Mari didn't like his presence.

And something in Adrien snapped as he watched him grab her hair and lean in so unbearably close.

Adrien immediately turned to Charlene. He was aware that her feelings were sensitive, and took care to leave her in as polite a manner as his temper allowed. His eyes were trained on the boy with the beanie as he stormed towards them. He watched Mari smack his hand away—rightfully so. If it was still there by the time he got there, he was going to break it.

 _Whoa. Calm down there, Adrien._

He stopped to catch his breath. He had never had such a violent thought—unless he was fighting as Cat Noir, of course. Adrien clenched and unclenched his hands. He felt Plagg wiggle in his shirt pocket and checked to see if anyone was looking before he glanced inside.

His kwami peered up at him with a concerned expression. Obviously he could tell Adrien was upset. He tried to give Plagg a silent, comforting look to let him know he was level-headed now. Then, he continued his stride to Mari and the boy in the beanie.

He walked up just in time to hear her say, "That in no way means that I am considering it!"

"Considering what?" Adrien asked, keeping himself closer to Marinette, but looking between the two.

"Adrien!" Marinette immediately turned to him with a smile. "I'm glad you could make it!"

She was ignoring his question, he noticed, but gave her a grin in return, happy to be able to talk to her. "Of course. I wouldn't miss spending time with friends."

The other boy cleared his throat, drawing their attention back.

Mari took a breath and gestured to him. "Adrien, this is Matthieu Boyer, Nathanaël's new friend. Matthieu, this is Adrien Agreste." She discreetly gave him a telling look.

So this _was_ the boy that was sending her those texts yesterday. When Matthieu held out his hand, Adrien civilly shook it, even if it was only to save face. "Pleasure to meet you, Matthieu. Sorry for intruding on your conversation. Anything I might be able to join in on?"

Matthieu smiled. "Why, yes, I'm sure you could." He barely took notice of Marinette's look of irritation before saying, "I've been telling her how important it is that she have a portfolio of her designs and a well-practiced photographer to take the pictures. I know from the media that you're Gabriel Agreste's son and probably know how important it is to have a portfolio."

Marinette groaned and put her hand to her face as if in embarrassment.

Adrien had a feeling that the conversation probably went deeper than that. He said, "You're right. That's probably one of the first things they ask of you in the fashion industry. I suppose you know enough about them if you're telling her about it." He crossed his arms and observed Matthieu expectantly.

Matthieu's face dropped just the slightest, but he kept up his spirits. "Just a little. I'm an aspiring photographer, and my father has been in the business for years now."

A photographer. It was likely that he was urging Marinette to be his partner, as that was the only connection that they had besides Nathanaël. But there were so many aspiring fashion designers. Why was he so fixated on Marinette?

"Who's your father, if I may ask?" inquired Adrien. "I may know him."

"Victor Boyer," Matthieu answered simply.

The name sounded familiar, but Adrien couldn't put a face to it. "I see. I've been modeling for my father's lines the last few years and thought maybe I would have met him at a shoot. Can't say that I have, though."

Matthieu nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Yes, well, maybe you don't run in the same circles." He offered a smile, to which Adrien returned.

Marinette was watching the two of them closely, but kept quiet next to Adrien's side.

"Well," Matthieu said, "I should be off. I think that our Nathanaël could use a wing man. Nice meeting you, Adrien." He eyed Marinette with a smirk. "I hope to be seeing you again, Mari."

Neither of them got the chance to say goodbye before he sauntered away. Good riddance, too.

Adrien looked at Marinette, who had her stare glued to her feet.

"Are you okay?" Adrien asked, placing his hand lightly on her arm.

Her eyes shot up and locked with his. "Ah! Um, yes. Thank you for asking." She mashed her lips together as if she didn't know what else to say.

And here they went again. He was trying so hard to get into conversations with her, to try to get comfortable with her, to get to know her. And here she was without a word to say to him. Well, if she wasn't going to say anything to him, he was going to say something to her.

"Marinette," he addressed.

"Y-yes?"

"I know that you and I haven't been particularly close," he started and stepped a bit closer, holding her gaze, "but I'd like to think that you and I can be good friends." He moved his hand down to hers and gently held it. "If you ever need anything, please don't hesitate to ask. Even if it's just to talk."

Marinette inaudibly took in a breath, but she nodded.

"Um," Adrien said and groped around in his pockets. He unearthed a pen with a laugh and grabbed a napkin off the snack table. He offered it to her after writing something on it. "This is my number. This time, I'm giving it to _you_."

She stared at it for a moment, then looked back to him before taking it. He thought maybe he saw her blush, but he was probably imagining it. He was glad that she took it all the same. He smiled at her.

A scream from the crowd of their friends startled them. Instinctively, their eyes scanned around them for the source. " _Akuma!_ " shrilled Chloé from the center of the mass.

Everything fell into chaos as the horde of people scattered, trying to flee the park and the akuma.

"Who invited _her_?" Marinette shouted.

"I don't think that matters right now!" Adrien grabbed her hand again and bolted.

 _Shoot_ , he thought, _I didn't think that through. We need to transform to take down the akuma._

He looked back at Mari. She was glancing around, seemingly looking for a reason to separate. Of course she wouldn't transform in front of him. And he wanted so much to protect her.

But, reluctantly, he let her go.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I started school last Monday. Huzzah? It's going to take up a lot of my time now, so be expecting some delays between chapters again.**

 **This last month, the bulk of my time was spent researching for this chapter. It's hard to come up with new villains! I really feel for the creative team of this show! I'm also having a hard time thinking of how Adrien and Marinette should interact and that's why their development is going so slow. I think I just need to play around with it a bit more. Suggestions and critiques are welcome!**

 **On that note, please leave comments and reviews! I'm using this story as a measure of my writing skills and to determine if I'll be writing stories in the future. Again, thank you so much for reading _Vanish at my Destiny_!**

 **-Ram 9/11/2016**


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